Assisi - Walk I

From Piazza del Comune to San Rufino, Rocca Maggiore,

Rocca Minore and Santa Maria delle Rose

Leave the Piazza del Comune along Via San Rufino. The house at number 10 (to the right of the entrance to the Via del Pozzo della Mensa) was the location of a Monte Frumentario, that Cardinal Antonio Barberini founded in 1633. The architrave of the door has a relief of a bee (the symbol of the Barberini) at each corner. (The establishment moved to Via San Francesco in 1746 - see Walk III).

Continue into Piazza di San Rufino. The piazza stands on a Roman terrace: its retaining wall runs along the start of Via del Torrione on the left and then forms part of the foundations of San Rufino.

The house on the left, next to the façade of San Rufino, is reputed to have belonged to Favarone di Offreduccio, the father of St Clare.

The Fontana di San Rufino is in the façade of the adjacent Palazzo Sermatti (late 18th century) at number 6. This palace was built for Count Filippo della Genga soon after his marriage in 1793 to Marianna Sermattei of Assisi.

The Casa Canonica is opposite.

Fontana di San Rufino (1532)

The papal governor, Virgilio de Bernardi built this elegant fountain, which bears his arms and those of Assisi. The lion relief (1278) at the end on the right, which has an inscription of the name of the Capitano del Popolo, Bonifacio dei Samaritani, possibly came from an earlier fountain in the piazza.

Leave the Piazza San Rufino along Via Perlici. The house at number 9 was once the hospital of the Confraternita di San Lorenzo.

Turn left, up the steps of Vicolo San Lorenzo. The ex-Oratorio di San Lorenzo can be seen through the gate on the right at the top of the steps.

A strenuous detour: turn left along Via della Rocca to Rocca Maggiore.

Retrace your steps to Vicolo San Lorenzo and into Via Perlici. The ex-Oratorio di San Vitale is in a cul-de-sac on the left, just past number 19a.

Ex-Oratario di San Vitale (late 14th century)

This oratory originally belonged to the Confraternita di San Vitale, which St Vitalis established on Mount Subasio before 1362. It moved here at the end of the 14th century, and was abolished in 1772, when the oratory passed to a community of Franciscan tertiaries. [Recent restoration]

A double-sided standard (15th century) from the oratory, which is known as the Gonfalone della Confraternita di San Vitale and attributed to Pietro di Giovanni, il Mazzaforte, is now in Room 1 of the Pinacoteca Civica, Foligno.

Continue through the arch in what was the Roman wall and look back at the inscription. It records that the Consul Tancred opened this gate in 1199 in order to open a direct route to the Marches. Continue through another gate, this time in the wall that was built in 1237. Via Perlici now swings to the right.

Fork right up the steps beside the remains of the aqueduct that Brother Elias built to bring water to San Francesco. It is an extension of the Roman Sanguinone Aqueduct, which brought water from Monte San Rufino to the amphitheatre.

Cross the busy Via Villamena and turn left to Porta Perlici (14th century). Stay inside the city walls and go up the steps to the natural terrace above the site of the amphitheatre.

Amphitheatre (early 1st century AD)

The outline of the elliptical amphitheatre is clearly visible from the terrace, which looks down on Via dell’ Anfiteatro, a street lined with houses built on the foundations of its walls.

An inscription in the Museo Civico, which was found in nearby Piazza Matteotti (see below), records that Petronia, wife of Galeonis completed the project as the executor of her brother, Decianus.

Continue along the terrace and then take the steps down to Via dell’ Anfiteatro. Fonte Perlici is on the left.

Fonte Perlici (1294)

An inscription on the left records that Guido di Giacomo da Cortona, the Capitano del Popolo built this fountain. His arms can be seen on the back wall.

The wool dyers who lived in the area were responsible for the maintenance of the fountain.

The washhouse (1736) to the right of it, which has a loggia of three arches, was restored in 1826.

Retrace your steps along Via dell’ Anfiteatro and continue anti-clockwise. The remains of one of the radial walls of the amphitheatre can be seen in the garden of number 22a. Take the second turn on the right into Piazza Matteotti and turn left, leaving the piazza by Via Eremo delle Carceri, passing the church of Santa Caterina on the left.

Santa Caterina (13th century)

A community of Benedictine nuns from Santa Caterina di Picaiai (which was named for a hill outside Porta Nuova on the road to Viole) moved to this site outside the Roman walls in ca. 1278.

The community was closed, due to its scandalous behaviour, in 1521, and the monastery passed to a community of Cistercian nuns from Santa Giustina, Perugia shortly afterwards.
In 1595, the Confraternita di SS Antonio e Giacomo moved here from Sant' Antonio Abate (see below). [Portal]
A number of detached frescoes from the church are now in the Pinacoteca.

Continue along Via Eremo delle Carceri to the Porta dei Cappuccini. The ex-church of Sant’ Antonio Abate is just before the gate, at number 22 on the right.

Sant’ Antonio Abate (12th century)

This church was first documented in 1198. It passed to the Confraternita di SS Antonio e Giacomo in the 14th century and to the Capuchins in 1595. They were forced to leave the adjoining convent in 1867 and were re-established at the Oratorio dell’ Immacolata Concezione (see Walk III) in 1881.

Turn left along the unpaved road along the inside of the city wall, or alternatively along a similar but tree-lined path along the outside of the walls , to the Rocca Minore. (It is possible to continue from here to the Eremo delle Carceri.)

Rocca Minore (1360)

Cardinal Albornoz built this castle and the walls that connect it to the Rocca Maggiore (above).

The tower was extensively restored after the earthquake of 1997.

Retrace your steps past Santa Caterina to Piazza Matteotti. The terrace opposite Santa Caterina is a good point from which to take an overview of the piazza, and to enjoy the view of the Rocca Maggiore.

Piazza Matteotti

This square was the site of a circus in Roman times, and of the market square of the medieval city. It now houses the bus station and an underground car park.

The boarding school known as the Convitto Nazionale (1940), which dominates the long side of the piazza nearest to you, stands on the site of a Roman necropolis that was in use from the 1st century BC.

The buildings on the opposite side of the piazza were built on the foundations of the Roman walls.

The neo-Gothic Casa Assunti (1918-26) at number 5 incorporates the remains of a monumental entrance to the city that had been discovered nearby shortly before the house was built. The huge base of a Roman column in its garden was one of four that were discovered in nearby Vicolo Bovi at this time and that probably came from a loggia that led from the city gate to the acropolis.

The remains of a Roman mausoleum can be seen further to the left, at the corner of Via del Torrione.

Roman Mausoleum (early 1st century AD)

This two-storey brick mausoleum extends into the adjacent garden of San Rufino.

An inscription found nearby, which is now in the Museo Civico, records that the municipal senate donated a site to P(ublio) Petronio, son of C(aio), and it is tempting to think that this was for the erection of this mausoleum. P(ublius) Petronio seems to have been the father of Petronia and Decianus, both of whom are recorded in another inscription that was found nearby, which relates to the amphitheatre (above).

Marble slabs that originally covered the surface of the mausoleum were removed in 1597 and used to construct Capuchins' convent at Sant' Antonio Abate (above).

Walk along Via del Torrione, which offers a fine view of the presbytery and dome of San Rufino. The ruins of what is thought to have been the Roman theatre (1st century AD) can be seen in the garden of number 3. Further along, the campanile of San Rufino and the external wall of the Roman cistern at its base can be seen on the left. The road runs then along the side of Piazza San Rufino .

Continue ahead along Via delle Rose, past Palazzo Agostini (17th century) on the right. The ex- Palazzo Consulare (12th century), which has two bifore windows in the top storey, is just beyond it at number 2c on the right. The Consuls moved to new premises in the Piazza del Comune in 1215, and the old palace was subsequently incorporated into the adjacent Monastero della Benedetta.

Monastero della Benedetta (15th century)

The monastery, which is usually named for its founder, Benedetta dei Fiumi, was originally dedicated to St Elizabeth of Hungary. The existence of a community of female tertiaries living here under the Benedictine Rule was first documented in 1453, although it was probably formed some time before that.

Towards the end of the century, the establishment changed its name to the Monastero della Santissima Concezione, when Benedetta left money in her will for the construction of a chapel with this dedication.

The Benedictine nuns from Sant’ Apollinare bought the complex in 1881, having been forced to leave their previous monastery in 1866.

Continue to the church of Santa Maria delle Rose on the right.

Retrace your steps for a short distance along Via delle Rose and turn right down the stepped Vicolo della Fortezza. The retaining wall on the right contains the remains of the aqueduct (13th century) that Brother Elias built to serve San Francesco. Vicola della Fortezza descends into the Piazza del Comune, where the walk ends.

Return to the home page on Assisi.