Assisi

Assisi, the birthplace of Saint Francis and one of Italy's most important Catholic pilgrimage sites, is a remarkably well-preserved medieval hilltop town in Umbria — its pink-tinged stone buildings and stone lanes terracing down the slopes of Monte Subasio, its extraordinary Basilica di San Francesco visible from the valley below as a defining feature of the landscape. The Basilica di San Francesco, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is actually two churches stacked on each other above the crypt where Francis is buried. The Upper Basilica is covered in a complete narrative cycle of frescoes by Giotto depicting the life of Saint Francis — among the most important paintings in the history of Western art, executed in the early 14th century with a naturalism and emotional directness that changed painting forever. The Lower Basilica contains earlier frescoes by Cimabue and Simone Martini. The historic centre — the Piazza del Comune with its Temple of Minerva (a perfectly preserved Roman temple converted to a church), the Rocca Maggiore fortress above the town, the Basilica di Santa Chiara (containing the original Cross that spoke to Francis) and the lanes connecting them — is almost entirely medieval and strikingly beautiful. Assisi's atmosphere, particularly in the early morning before tour groups arrive, is genuinely peaceful and moving. The surrounding Umbrian landscape — olive groves, cypress avenues and rolling hills — is magnificent.