Cultural Heritage
Assisi
Subasio is "Monte de Assisio" since Assisi and its mountain live since ancient times in a sort of symbiosis which, over the centuries, has become stronger and deeply rooted. The whole town center of Assisi lies within the Park and characterizes its natural and historical-cultural features, to the extent that the Protected Area could also be called "Parco di Assisi".
The town was built with the pink stone taken from its mountain and Subasio geomorphological balance and wildlife and vegetational features are determined first of all by the fact that it is the mountain from which Assisi has always taken its resources: from the stone material to timber and products deriving from the grazing activity.
Assisi, Umbrian acropolis first and important Roman municipium later, began to take shape exactly on the Roman town with its terracing, the square of the Forum where the main roads ended and where Minerva Temple still faces. In the early Middle Ages, settlements grew within the town walls on the ruins of the Roman buildings.
The most ancient churches date back to the period before the year 1000: it is possible to find evidences of them in the crypts of S.Maria Maggiore and S.Rufino. However, Assisi mainly preserves evidences of centuries of Franciscan spirit, centuries of devotion, and centuries of religious estheticism. Here you are Basilica di San Francesco with the frescoes decorating both the lower (Simone Martini, Cimabue) and upper basilica (Giotto), Basilica di Santa Chiara, San Damiano church.
Assisi has been declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
