Assisi’s history is thought to have begun in 1,000 BC, when it is believed to have first grown up as an Umbrian settlement.After the Battle of Sentinum, which took place at the end of the 3rd century BC, Roman forces prevailed. As a Roman colony, Assisi was known as Asisium. There’s evidence of a pagan temple in the town’s Piazza del Commune, which dates to the 1st century BC.In the early 3rd century, the town was visited by St. Rufino, who attempted to bring Christianity here. It was to be the start of a close association between the town and religion. In 1182, Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone was born in Assisi. Whilst he was to live most of his life in a state of poverty, he actually was born into a fairly well-off merchant family. As Francis, he founded a Franciscan community, which was finally officially sanctioned by Pope Innocent III in 1210. There’s evidence that around 1224, he received the stigmata. Canonized in 1228, he became known as St. Francis.The Basilica di San Francesco was built as a final resting place for the saint’s bones. It was also a place where some of Assisi’s most treasured works of art were housed. The Basilica di Santa Chiara was built to remember another of Siena’s saints, known as St. Clare. It is little wonder that throughout history, Siena has been a popular place of pilgrimage.
