Small-Group Tour: Assisi and Orvieto Full Day Tour from Rome

An interesting visit to St. Francis Basilica with his early Renaissance master-pieces by Giotto and Cimabue and the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels , After the death of Saint Francis in 1226, the friars built several small huts around the Porziuncola. In 1230, a refectory and some adjacent buildings were added. In the course of time, little porticoes and accommodations for the friars were added around the Porziuncola. Some foundations of these were discovered during excavations under the floor of the present basilica between 1967 and 1969. As vast numbers of pilgrims came flocking to Assisi to receive the "Pardon of Assisi" the small space of the Porziuncola became completely inadequate to house all these pilgrims. The necessity grew to build a church incorporating the Porziuncola. The buildings around the shrine were taken down by order of Pope Pius V (1566-1572), except the Chapel of the Transito, the cell in which St. Francis had died. Construction of the basilica started on 25 March 1569.

Visit the church of Santa Chiara , The church was built, after the death of Santa Chiara, between 1257 and 1265, around the ancient church of San Giorgio, which until 1230 had kept the mortal remains of St. Francis