In the town of Assissi, city of Perugia, central Italy

 “Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” ― St. Francis Of Assisi

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(in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region of central Italy) The town of Assisi lies 12 miles (~19 km) east of the city of Perugia and is famous as the birthplace of St. Francis (the founder of the Franciscan order here in 1208) and St. Clare (Chiara d'Offreducci), who (with St. Francis) founded the Poor Sisters, which later became the Order of Poor Clares (after her death). The 19th-century Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows was also born in this town.

+ Assisi is situated on a spur of Monte Subasio at an elevation of 400 meters and overlooks the valleys of the Topino and Chiascio rivers. The town has narrow, winding streets and is surrounded by medieval walls. It developed from the Umbrian, Etruscan, and Roman town of Assisium, of which the temple of Minerva (now a church) is the most notable survival. Subject to the dukes of Spoleto in the early Middle Ages, Assisi became an independent community in the 12th century and was involved in internal disputes and wars with Perugia before passing to the Papal States in the 16th century. (It became part of the Italian kingdom in 1860.)

+ Depiced here, is the the town’s most notable landmark, the Basilica of San Francesco (St. Francis), which was begun in 1228, just two years after the saint’s death, and was completed in 1253. The two-story basilica consists of an upper church and a lower church. The crypt in the lower church was added in 1818 when the tomb of St. Francis was opened. The basilica is one of the greatest repositories of Early Renaissance fresco painting in Italy. Saint Francis is buried in the lower church, which has frescoes by Giovanni Cimabue, Pietro Lorenzetti, and Simone Martini. The upper church has frescoes representing episodes from the life of St. Francis by Giotto (and his followers), and others depicting scenes of the Old and New Testaments by Cimabue, his pupils, and Jacopo Torriti. Earthquakes on 26 September 1997, seriously damaged the basilica, collapsing several vaulted ceilings of the upper church and destroying frescoes by Cimabue and others.

+ The 12th-century Cathedral of San Rufino in the town has a fine Gothic façade with three rose windows. Just east of the Old Town is the Church of San Damiano, where Francis renounced the world (in 1205) and where St. Clare died (in 1253). After 1212 the nuns of the Poor Clares lived in a convent at San Damiano. The Eremo delle Carceri (or Prison Hermitage), given to St. Francis by Benedictine monks, and the 16th-century Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, enshrining the Romanesque church of the Porziuncola (the cradle of the Franciscan order), are both nearby.

+ As the place where St. Francis was born, founded his order, and died, Assisi is still a famous Roman Catholic shrine and a popular pilgrimage site. (The town derives considerable income from pilgrims and tourists.)