Anywhere ItalyPlan a trip
Assisi, Umbria
Coat of arms of Assisi

Umbria · Perugia

Assisi

A pink limestone town on the western flank of a mountain above the plain, the birthplace of Francis and a UNESCO site since 2000.

Best time
Apr–Oct
By car
33 min from Perugia
By train
Station in the comune
Population
27,605

We've been

Feature from our free newsletter

Assisi | The Church He Would Have Chosen

The basilica is grand, and it is grand from a distance, which is the harder trick. You see it from the valley road as a long horizontal weight along the end of the ridge, held up on arches, wider than the town it belongs to. In front of it there is a huge sloping field, stone, which functions as a piazza sort-of.

From the letter, August 2026

Read the full feature on anywhereitaly.com

Known for

  • UNESCO 2000

    Inscribed in 2000 for the basilicas, the medieval center and the Franciscan sites that shaped Italian painting between 1280 and 1320.

  • FRANCIS AND CLARE

    Born here in 1182 and 1194, founders of the Franciscan and Poor Clare orders; their relics anchor the two ends of town.

  • 1997 EARTHQUAKE

    September 1997 quakes brought down part of the upper basilica's vault; the church reopened in under two years.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

  • J9°
  • F12°
  • M13°
  • A16°
  • M22°
  • J27°
  • J31°
  • A31°
  • S25°
  • O20°
  • N14°
  • D10°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

Why come

Assisi sits on a terraced spur twenty kilometers east of Perugia, the town built into the western flank of Monte Subasio where it drops toward the plain below. The Umbri settled the site before the Romans came, and the municipium of Asisium grew up around what is now Piazza del Comune, the square that still forms the civic center of the medieval town. The centro storico runs between two poles: the basilica holding Francis's tomb at one end and the church holding Clare's relics at the other, with the Roman square and its temple facade sitting between them as the oldest layer beneath the medieval one.

Below the town, on the plain, stands the basilica built around the chapel where Francis founded his order and died. Further up the mountain, past the town walls, the hermitage occupies a beech wood where Francis and his companions withdrew from all of it. The layout traces the life it commemorates: birth and burial at the center, founding and death on the plain below, retreat in the wood above. The town has arranged itself, over centuries, around the geography of one man's biography.

How to get there

From Ancona (AOI), about 1 h 46 min by car.

Rimini (RMI) is about 2 h 52 min away.

By car from the center of Perugia 33 min, Siena 1 h 55 min or Ancona 1 h 58 min.

There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.

Coming from Florence?

Coming by train into Perugia? Assisi is about 32 min away by road.

Every town within reach of Ancona airport.

First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.

Assisi, Umbria
Assisi, Umbria

What to see

  • Basilica di San Francesco

    Two superimposed churches over the saint's tomb, frescoed by Cimabue, Giotto, Simone Martini and Pietro Lorenzetti.

  • Basilica di Santa Chiara

    Church at the eastern end of the centro storico, holding the relics of Saint Clare and the San Damiano Crucifix.

  • Tempio di Minerva

    Roman temple on Piazza del Comune, six Corinthian columns intact, one of the best-preserved temple façades in the country, converted to a church in 1539.

  • Rocca Maggiore

    Fortress above the town first recorded in 1174, rebuilt by Cardinal Albornoz in 1367, with a panoramic walk along the Tescio valley.

  • Santa Maria degli Angeli e Porziuncola

    Basilica in the plain below the town, built around the small chapel where Francis founded the Franciscan order and died in 1226.

  • Eremo delle Carceri

    Hermitage four kilometers up Monte Subasio in a beech wood, the caves where Francis and his companions retreated to pray.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Assisi fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer six questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

From the guides

Where to eat and stay

Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.

  • La Locanda del CardinaleRistorante

    La Locanda del Cardinale carries one Gambero Rosso fork (78/100), plus a spot in the Michelin Guide.

  • BenediktoRistorante

    Benedikto carries a spot in the Michelin Guide.

  • Re Tartù agli OrtiRistorante

    Re Tartù agli Orti holds two Gambero Rosso forks (81/100).

  • UneRistorante

    Une has one Michelin star to its name.

  • Tenuta San MasseoHotel

    A place in the Michelin hotel guide, at Tenuta San Masseo.

Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.

Living here

  • Population 27,605, down 1.8% since 2015
  • Commuter belti
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Train station in the comune
  • A national health service hospital in the comune · how healthcare works in Italy
  • Full fibre reaches 48% of homes
  • Primary school in the comune
  • Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
  • Ancona airport, 1 h 46 min drive, the closest of the 15 airports we time
  • Regional capital Perugia, 33 min drive

Could you live here?

Assisi meets 2 of our 3 rules for a small town.

  • 27,605 people, above our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: big enough that it can split into neighborhoods.
  • Perugia, a city of 161,748, is 33 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
  • A station of its own. Trains are the overlooked way to get around Italy: no parking, straight into the center.

The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.

Subscribe, free

The button takes you to the letter's own page on Substack, where you leave your email. About the letter

Common questions

What is Assisi known for?
Assisi is a pink limestone town at 424 meters on the western flank of a mountain above the plain, the birthplace of Francis and a UNESCO site since 2000.
Where is Assisi?
Assisi is a comune in the province of Perugia, in Umbria.
Which of the airports we measure is closest to Assisi?
Of the 15 airports we time the drive to, the closest is Ancona (AOI), about 1 h 46 min by car.
Can you get to Assisi without a car?
Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
How long is the drive from Perugia to Assisi?
About 33 min by car.
When is the best time to visit Assisi?
Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 14 rain days.
Which other towns are like Assisi?
Magione, Monteprandone and Bra.
How many people live in Assisi?
27,605 at the 2023 count.
Is Assisi a good place to live?
By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Assisi is a small town that meets 2 of our 3 rules. The nearest city, Perugia, is 33 min away by car. There is a national health service hospital in the comune. Full fibre reaches 48% of homes.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 424 m
  • Population: 27,605
  • Surface area: 187.19 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

Similar

Towns like Assisi

What all six share with Assisi: inland, away from the coast · over 10,000 people · hill towns

The ranked lists

Lists Assisi appears in

All the ranked lists ›