San Nicolò di Piazza (11th century)

The church of San Nicolò was first documented in 1097, and it was listed as a parish church in 1227.

In ca. 1207, soon after his conversion, the future St Francis prayed in San Nicolò and then opened the Bible at random three times in order to find out how God wanted him to live.  On each occasion, the Bible opened at a text telling him that the way to perfection was to give all his goods to the poor and to become an evangelist.  Thus the Franciscan vocation was defined.  The altar on which St Francis had consulted the Bible is now in the Cappella della Madonna del Pianto, San Rufino.

The church that St Francis knew had its main entrance in Via di San Paolo.  A new facade with a portico and a campanile to the left was built in the Piazza in the 17th century.  The church was badly damaged in the earthquake of 1832 and deconsecrated in 1848.  The altarpiece of St Nicholas of Bari (ca. 1640) by Cesare Sermei is now in the Museo della Cattedrale.)   San Nicolò was subsequently used as a barracks until it was demolished in 1924 to make way for the Palazzo delle Poste (1927). 

The surviving crypt of San Nicolò (which is entered at number 2 Via Portica) was adapted in the 1930s to house the Museo Civico and to provide an entrance to the archaeological area.

Tabernacle of the Madonna del Popolo

A tabernacle that the Commune dedicated to the Virgin that was used for public Masses was documented on the side wall of San Nicolò in the Piazza from the 14th century.   It contained a fresco known as the Madonna del Popolo (ca. 1318) which depicted the Madonna and Child enthroned with SS Francis and Clare below interceding for Assisi.  The tabernacle was demolished when the new facade was built in the 17th or 18th century, but the fresco was detached and preserved.

A new tabernacle was built to the left of the entrance to the Palazzo delle Poste to house the surviving fragments of the Madonna del Popolo.  However, the fresco fragments were subsequently removed for restoration and are now in the Pinacoteca. 

The altar that remains in the tabernacle is made from a slab of stone from Mount Alvernia, the site of the stigmtisation of St Francis in 1224.  The city of Florence donated it to Assisi in 1926, on the 700th anniversary of the death of St Francis.

Fonte di San Nicolò

The Fonte di San Nicolò in Via Portica (just before the entrance to the crypt) rests on a pavement that is at the level of the Roman forum.  The pulpit above (14th century) came from [one of the public palaces].

Return to Walk III