ASSISI (anc. Asisium), episcopal see, Umbria, Italy, prov ince of Perugia, 1 5m. E.S.E. by rail from Perugia. Pop. (1931) town, 7,008; commune, 21,614. The town occupies a fine posi tion on a spur of the Monte Subasio (1,345ft. above sea-level) with a view over the Tiber and Topino. St. Francis was born here in 1182, and returned here to die in I 226. The Franciscan mon astery and the lower and upper church of St. Francis, begun im mediately after his canonization in 1228, and completed in 1253, are fine Gothic. The neo-classical crypt was added in 1818, when his sarcophagus was found. The lower church contains frescoes by Cimabue, and famous ones over the high altar by Giotto, illustrating the vows of the Franciscan order ; while the upper church has frescoes representing scenes from the life of St. Francis (by Giotto and his pupils) on the lower nave walls, and scenes from the Old and New Testament history by Pietro Caval lini and his pupils on the upper. The church of Santa Chiara (St. Clare), the foundress of the Poor Clares, with its massive lateral buttresses, fine rose-window, and simple Gothic interior, was begun in 1257, four years after her death. It contains the tomb of the saint. Santa Maria Maggiore is also good Gothic. The cathedral (San Rufino) has a fine façade with three rose windows of 1140. The mediaeval castle (I,655ft.) was built by Cardinal Albornoz (1367) and added to by Popes Pius II. and Paul III. Two miles to the east in a ravine below Monte Subasio is the hermitage delle Carceri (of the prisons) (2,3ooft.), partly built, partly cut out of rock, given to St. Francis by Benedictine monks as a place of retirement. Close to the station is the large pilgrimage church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, be gun in 5569 by Pope Pius V., with Vignola as architect, but not completed until 1679, partly destroyed by an earthquake in 1832, and afterwards rebuilt. It contains the original oratory of St. Francis (the Porziuncola) and the cell in which he died.
See L. Duff-Gordon, Assisi ("Mediaeval Towns" series, London, 1900) . For ancient history see AsIsfuM. F. Herman, Assise, la Ville de (Rome, 1927) .