Basilica of St Francis: free entry, three timetables

Entry to the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi is free for individual visitors and there is no ticket to buy (2026).

Free means free, and that is a verified fact

Individual visitors walk in for €0, with no ticket to hold, a rule read directly in 2026 on the visitor page of the Sacro Convento, the body that runs the basilica.

Organized groups work differently. They have to book, and they pay €2.50 a person for entry alone, or €3.00 with radio guide hire, which is compulsory for guided visits inside the church.

If a reseller offers you a paid entry ticket as an individual, you are paying for a guide or for nothing at all.

Three parts, three different clocks

The lower church runs 6 am to 6:30 pm, the upper church 8:30 am to 5:45 pm, and the tomb of St Francis 6 am to 6 pm (2026). On Italian signs those read 06:00 to 18:30, 08:30 to 17:45 and 06:00 to 18:00.

Two variations move the lower church: it shuts at 6 pm on Wednesdays and stays open to 7 pm on Saturdays.

The practical consequence is the two and a half hours between 6 am and 8:30 am. Arrive early for a quiet building and you get the lower church and the tomb; the Giotto cycle upstairs is still shut.

No toilets inside the church

None of the 3 parts of the basilica has a toilet: the only ones on the site are in the underground rooms of the lower square, beside the information office.

That is a small fact with a large effect on a visit that involves two churches, a crypt and a queue, especially with children or with anyone who cannot walk back up the ramp twice.

Between the two churches, there is no step-free way inside

The 2 churches are joined by no internal step-free route. To move between them without stairs you leave the building and use the external ramp between the two squares.

For the tomb there is a reserved lift, available on request to the staff on duty.

Together those two facts decide the shape of the visit for anyone using a wheelchair or a stick: the route is outside, in the open, between two piazzas at different heights.

The dress code that is not published

The 2 visitor pages on the official site carry no dress code, and both were read looking for one. Nothing is quoted here because nothing is stated there.

What Italian churches ask in practice is covered shoulders and knees, enforced at the door at the discretion of whoever is on duty, with a scarf as the standard fix. That is a general habit rather than a rule of this basilica.

One more limit worth knowing before you plan a day in Assisi: the Sacro Convento, the friary attached to the church, is not open to tourist visits and offers no accommodation. For the region, see Umbria.

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