Assisi is a small
Umbrian town in central Italy, located 12 miles East of
Perugia at an elevation of 1,300 feet.
Assisi is best known as the birthplace of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of Italy, the founder of the Franciscan order, and one of the most popular catholic saints in history. Assisi's main attraction is the 13th century Basilica of San Francesco, which contains the sacred brelics of St. Francis and beautiful frescoes of his life. In Assisi town, there are at least seven other churches well worth visiting for their history, beauty, and connection with St. Francis.
The town of Assisi, with its Roman ruins, winding medieval streets and sacred shrines, has been a major catholic pilgrimage destination for centuries and is today one of the most popular tourist destination in Italy. About four to five million visitors throng the town each year as tourists to see for themselves what Assisi has to offer.
Assisi's great sites has made it worth visiting. Assisi has an interchange of artistic and spiritual message of the Franciscan order and this has significantly contributed to development of art and architecture in the world.
How to arrive
Arriving in Assisi is as easy as it sounds. Whether you are coming from outside Italy or within Italy but from a different town or city doesn't matter because getting there (at Assisi) one can use all the available means of transport ranging from air, using a train as well as using a car.
When using a car, it depends from which direction one is arriving from. If it is from the north, i.e. Milan or Florence, the best exit for Assisi on the A1 motorway is at Valdichiana, where the superstrada SS75bis branches into Umbria at lake Trasimene and continues towards Perugia-Assisi. If you are from Rome travelling northwards along the A1 motorway, the best exit of reaching Assisi is at Orte, which is connected to the regional capital at first by the SS204n to Terni and then by the E45 from Terni to Perugia-Assisi. If you take the A14 motorway as your preferred route, down the Adriatic coast of Italy has an exit at Cesena for the E45 ''super strada'' to Città di Castello and Perugia-Assisi.
If you prefer using the train to arrive at Assisi, from the north, the main line between Florence and Rome has a station at Terontola ( on the branch line to Lake Trasimene, Perugia, Assisi, Spello, and Folgno),so coming from Florence take one of the dozen daily trains to Terontola/Cortona (about half an hour) that meet up with a connecting train to Assisi/Santa Maria delgi Angeli (about 45-60minutes). Say you are coming from the South, the main line between Rome and Ancona has a station at Foligno (on the branch line to Spello, Assisi, Perugia, and Lake Trasimene), so coming from Rome, take one of the nine daily trains on the line to Ancona, stop at Foligno (approximate time is between 1hr., 40 min-2 hr.),where you can transfer to a Perugia-bound train taking between 10 and 15 minutes.
In the event that you prefer using air as your means of transport destination being Assisi, one has a lot of options to choose from. Assisi being not far from Rome, Pisa and Florence which hosts Italy's major closest airport, and so making Assisi accessible by air. Rome's Aeroporto Leonardo da Vinci, also known as Fiuninicino (FCO) which has flights from major international cities of the world as well as connections to Rome and Milan. Pisa's Aeroporto Galileo Galilei (PSA) has flights from major cites in Europe such as Paris, London, Amsterdam and also Brussels amongst other major cities, and also connections as well. Florence's Aeroporto A. Vespucci, known as Perotola (FLR) has connections from major world cities in Europe and America such as Chicago, Dallas and New York, therefore anybody coming from any part of the world can reach Assisi and enjoy what Assisi has to offer..!
Most tour and travel agents often recommend to people coming to Assisi by air to land to Rome and continue for Assisi with bus or train.
Art and culture in Assisi