Upper Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi

The Upper Basilica of San Francesco is a thirteenth-century Gothic church standing on a hillside above the town of Assisi. Its interior consists of a single nave with tall pointed-arch windows that cast daylight onto the painted walls, and it ends in a pentagonal apse behind the altar.

Pope Gregory IX ordered the construction of this church in 1228, two years after the canonization of Francis, to provide a worthy burial site for the new saint. The fresco decorations were added in the following decades when Italian painters were commissioned to apply biblical stories and episodes from the saint's life onto the walls.

The walls show 28 thirteenth-century frescoes depicting key moments in the life of Saint Francis, painted by Italian artists such as Giotto and Cimabue. This pictorial sequence tells the story of his conversion, his miracles and his death as visitors walk through the space and view the scenes in order.

The entrance to the church is on the western facade and leads directly into the main hall, where natural light enters through the tall windows. Visitors should expect to spend several minutes walking the full length of the frescoes along the side walls.

The upper church has over 2000 square meters (21500 square feet) of painted wall surface showing biblical stories and the life of Saint Francis side by side. Some frescoes were worked on by multiple hands as different masters contributed to the same wall sections at different times.