Assisi: three Franciscan sites, one on the mountain

Three Franciscan places in Assisi are free of charge or free of booking and none of them is the Basilica of San Francesco: Santa Chiara in the old town, the Porziuncola down in the valley, and the Eremo delle Carceri at 800³ meters on Monte Subasio.

Santa Chiara: free, unbooked, and split in the middle

Entry to the Basilica of Santa Chiara costs nothing and no reservation is taken, but tourist visits are only allowed from 8:30 am even though the doors open at 6:30 am for prayer. That two hour gap is the part people get wrong.

The day is cut in half: 6:30 am to 12:30 pm, then 2:00 pm to closing after Vespers, 5:45 pm on winter time and 6:45 pm on summer time. Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays run straight through with no break.

Inside is the San Damiano crucifix, moved here from the church of San Damiano outside the walls. If your day has one fixed point, make it the reopening at 2:00 pm, when the church is emptiest.

The Porziuncola is in the valley, next to the station

The chapel where Francis founded his order is not in upper Assisi at all: it stands inside the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, in the valley beside the railway station, swallowed whole by a much larger church built around it.

That basilica opens 7:30 am to 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm to 7:00 pm, with access from 6:30 am for anyone coming to a service, and confessions 7:30 am to 12:30 pm and 3:00 pm to 6:30 pm. The Cappella del Transito, the rose garden and the Cappella delle Rose are in the same complex.

Its position rewrites the logistics of the day. Arriving by train you are already at the Porziuncola, which makes it the first stop, not the last.

Monte Subasio: 800 meters, 4 km, bus line E

The Eremo delle Carceri sits at 800³ meters on the flank of Monte Subasio, 4 km above the old town beyond Porta Cappuccini, and opens 6:30 am to 6:00 pm on weekdays and 7:30 am to 6:00 pm on Sundays and holidays, closing an hour later in summer.

Group visits are held 9:00 am to 11:30 am and 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm, until 5:30 pm in summer. Without a car, take bus line E from the Matteotti car park.

One thing this page does not claim: the friars who run the hermitage do not state anywhere that entry is free, so no admission figure is recorded here. They also ask visitors to telephone, because the hours move.

The listing covers 14,563.25 hectares, not a church

The UNESCO property "Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and other Franciscan sites" was inscribed in 2000 under five criteria, i, ii, iii, iv and vi, with a core zone of 14,563.25⁴ hectares and a buffer zone of 4,086.7⁴ hectares.

That is a landscape, not a building. The components include Santa Chiara, Santa Maria degli Angeli, the Eremo delle Carceri, San Damiano, Rivotorto and the old town inside its medieval walls.

The UNESCO record itself could not be read: whc.unesco.org answers with a 403⁴ and shows only an anti-bot challenge, so the year and the criteria come from the Italian culture ministry file.

Moving between the three without a car

The Assisi Link shuttle runs every 20 minutes Monday to Friday and every 15 minutes on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays between 8:00 am and 8:00 pm, linking the station at Santa Maria degli Angeli to the old town 4 km uphill.

A 90 minute urban ticket costs €1.30 bought on the ground and €2.00 on board, so buy before you get on. From Perugia the fare is €4.20 and from Foligno €3.00 (2026).

Put the three sites in order of altitude and the day builds itself: Porziuncola on arrival, Santa Chiara in the middle, Carceri last. More in Assisi and the Basilica of San Francesco.

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