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ASSISI
But it’s the monumental
complex of the Cathedral of Saint Francis that the whole City
embraces; Consecrated in 1253, with a convent annexed to it.
It’s an evocative construction, consisting of two churches
with a single overhead nave, which were beautifully decorated
with cycles of biblical, Evangelical and Franciscan frescoes
by the most famous artists of the 3rd and 4th Centuries: Cimabue
(who worked on the transept (arch), basin and on the veil
of the façade of the higher church, as well as leaving
a Madonna and Saint Francis in the lower church), Giotto (history
of the Saint in the nave of the higher church), Pietro Lorenzetti
(lower church) and Simone Martini (San Martino Chapel in the
lower church).
A frescoe by Giotto (San Girolamo teaching
an altar boy) and one by Cimabue (Saint Mark and Italy) were
also irreparably destroyed,due to the seismic activity of
’97. The other frescoes did not sustain such damage.
The Renaissance is testified by the colonnade of the Saint
Francis Square, the San Bernardino and Pellegrini oratories,
the reconstructed house of the Comacini Professors, the fonti
Marcella and Oliviera (springs). From the 17th Century, we
have testimonies in the form of the Barnabei, Giacobetti and
Vallemani buildings, as well as the Chiesa Nuova (New Church).
Other notable buildings and pieces include the Civic Archaeological
Museum, positioned in the Roman Crypt of San Niccolò;
the Communal Art Gallery in the Commune Building; the Capitolare
Museum containing a triptych by Niccolò Alunno, invaluable
14th Century frescoes taken from the Church of San Rufinuccio,
as well as goldsmiths and parades; the treasures of the sacred
convent of Saint Francis; the Museum of the Cathedral of Santa
Maria degli Angeli (celebrated and loved place of pilgrimage
because it contains the Porziuncola (shrine), constructed
in the 12th Century, was the first oratory of Saint Francis
and his order in 1209, but also the place where the Saint
died in 1226), a cross painted by Giunta Pisano and other
works.
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Art City
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SAN FRANCESCO |
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PANORAMA
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