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The City of Assisi

A town of N central Umbria: 43°03.9N, 12°37.4E. Altitude: 505 m. Population in 2003: 25,600.

[A view of a medieval city from maybe 300 meters above it. The city spreads over two hills and the hollow between them, and several castles and churches can be made out. It is a view of Assisi, in Umbria (central Italy), from Mount Subasio.]

A view of the city
from the road up Mt. Subasio to St. Francis's hermitage.

Assisi is a small town made very rich by St. Francis, the apostle of poverty.

In lieu of a formal summary of her history and monuments, for now the article Assisi (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911) will have to suffice here; but here are the beginnings of a more personal look at her:

Between 1994 and 2004, I've taken lots of photographs of the churches of Assisi; at a glacial pace, I'm starting to put them online, and occasionally some text to go with them.

[ 2/22/07: 14 churches, 8 pages, 26 photos ]

The Roman remains include a very well preserved temple, traditionally referred to as the "Temple of Minerva"; but there's also an amphitheatre, tombs, inscriptions, a Roman cistern; and a piece of the Forum, made somewhat more striking by being underground.

[ 4 pages, 12 photos ]

Frazioni

For historical reasons, Assisi is one of the larger comuni in Umbria, carrying with it from the Middle Ages into modern times a long list of subject towns and hamlets. Many of these places are very small, a few hundred inhabitants if that; as elsewhere in Italy, those that have a certain administrative identity of their own are frazioni of the comune (singular: frazione, literally a "fraction"): a complete list of them follows. I've been thru several of these small places in trains, cars, and buses, but few on foot, so links are likely to be offsite.

Armenzano • Capodacqua • Castelnuovo • Costa di Trex • Colle delle Forche • Eremo delle Carceri • Morra • Palazzo • Paradiso • Passaggio d'Assisi • Petrignano • Pianello • Pieve S. Nicolò • Porziano • Rivotorto • Rocca S. Angelo • S. Damiano • S. Gregorio • S. Maria degli Angeli • S. Maria Lignano • S. Vitale • Sterpeto • Torchiagina • Tordandrea • Tordibetto

Images with borders lead to more information.
The thicker the border, the more information. (Details here.)

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