Abbazia di San Pietro ☆☆☆

8h | from €155

Enjoy your travel from Florence to Rome with stops in Perugia and Assisi on the way to admire these unforgettable places, without the hassle of trains and planes and with the gift of an additional visit experience. Sit back and begin your journey!

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Palazzo dei Priori, Perugia, Province of Perugia, Umbria

After your pick up in Florence, you will first reach Perugia, the marvelous top-hill city surrounded by ancient Etruscan walls, famous for its beautiful historic center but also for its savory chocolate.
You will discover the ancient city of Perugia, one of the popular Italian towns of art with its variety and quality of historical and medieval testimonies. It has an Etruscan origin, preserved in the travertine walls and in the well located in the village center, including the Etruscan Arch monumental city gate and Porta Marzia, ancient Etruscan gate, leading to the city from the south side. Admire the beautiful square in which you can find real architectural jewels like the superb Palazzo dei Priori (1293-1443). the main civic building, a nice and imposing Palace, with its pink gothic style windows and ornate portal, the splendid Cathedral (1345), and one of the masterpieces of sculpture with an invaluable artistic value (13th century), the elegant Fontana Maggiore (1275). This Fountain, a true symbol of the city, was created at the end of the 13th century to provide a water output to the medieval aqueduct. Finally you will be impressed by the Rocca Paolina, a fortress built up at the command of Pope Paul III; it covers an attractive underground itinerary through a distinctive medieval district, where the noble mansions of Perugia’s lords once were.


Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Basilica inferiore di San Francesco d'Assisi, Assisi, Province of Perugia, Umbria

Then enjoy the drive to Assisi, a small town of immense beauty and spiritual significance, where the patron saint of Italy, Saint Francis of Assisi (1181- 1226) lived, worked and died. On a lowland at the foot of Mount Subasio, the hill on which Assisi rises you can visit the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, built around as a protection of the famous little church of the "Porziuncola", where Saint Francis acknowledged his vocation and founded the Order of the Minor Friars. In this place, even Santa Chiara began her monastic life. Here you can also see the "rosebush without thorns", which continues to grow only in this magic place and that, according to a legend, originated from the contact of the Saint with a thorny bush. Breathe the special atmosphere of serenity and joy that this city emanates and you will understand why the delegates of the main religions in the world have chosen it as symbol of Peace
You will have the chance to admire its remarkable beauties, such as the Piazza del Comune, the Rocca Maggiore and the famous Basilica of St Francis with frescoes and paintings by Pietro Lorenzetti, Simone Martini and Giotto.
After this visit, you will comfortably proceed with your transfer to your final destination in Rome.


Duration: 2 hours

1 hour 30m | from €5

Visit the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi with the help of a video guide, created with the help of the friars of the sanctuary. Take a moment to look at this simple, serene and linear structure which is full of light and rich colors. Learn about the history and architecture of one of the most famous pilgrimage sites in the world and explore all areas of the church independently, including the lavish architecture and stunning frescoes by Giotto, Cimabue, Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti and other artists of the era.

Visit: Basilica inferiore di San Francesco d'Assisi, Assisi, Province of Perugia, Umbria

Collect your video guide and explore all areas of the complex, one of the most famous pilgrimage sites in the world. The entire building is made up of three superimposed churches linked to different phases of construction: the crypt with burial function, the Lower Church which is linked to the Umbrian Romanesque and the Upper Church, in French Gothic style. After collecting your video guide, you'll start the tour from the Lower Basilica, where you can admire the fresco barreled vault of the apse and down in the crypt, relics of St. Francis. The visit will continue in the Upper Church, where you'll admire Cimabue's frescoes, decorating the transept, the choir and those of Giotto, that tell of St. Francis' life from the aisle walls. Take a complete tour  with 54 different listening points. Listen to over an hour of audio content and make use of the provided map to identify interesting features inside the sanctuary.

9h | from €84

Swap the big city bustle for medieval small-town charms on this private day trip from Rome to Assisi. In the company of your very own  knowledgeable English-speaking driver, travel through the Umbrian hills to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed town of Assisi. See the Church of Santa Chiara, the birthplace and childhood home of St Francis of Assisi, as well as the town hall square and the Roman Temple of Minerva. After lunch (own expense), visit the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Pass By: DriverinRome Transportation & Tours, Rome, Lazio

During this Day tour excursion from Rome you will have the chance to travel to real Italy, far away from the modern highways and large cities, in the heart of the Umbrian countryside, where small ancient villages are waiting to be discovered. One of them is Assisi, an oasis of art, architecture and spirituality and the home of Saint Francis, one of Italy's most beloved saints.

Stop At: Basilica di Santa Chiara, Assisi, Province of Perugia, Umbria

.Leaving Rome in a northerly direction, you will cross the valley of the Tevere, passing by typical medieval villages such as Deruta, Todi e Perugia before arriving in Assisi. Here you will start your walk through the narrow streets of the village to see the church of Santa Chiara, containing the remains of Saint Clare, a follower of Saint Francis and founder of the Order of Poor Ladies, and then on to see the house where St. Francis was born and spent the first years of his life.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Basilica Superiore di San Francesco d' Assisi, Assisi, Province of Perugia, Umbria

All roads will take you to the Basilica of San Francesco. This grandiose and gorgeously embellished Basilica is a rather incongruous memorial to a man who preached and lived a simple life of poverty, abstinence, and renunciation of worldly goods in search of greater spirituality.
It is however, one of the world's most wonderful encounters between religion and art. Unique paintings by Cimabue, Pietro Lorenzetti, Simone Martini and Giotto, have made the Basilica of St. Francis a fundamental reference point for the development of Italian and European art and architecture.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli - Porziuncola, Assisi, Province of Perugia, Umbria

Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli where you can see the Porziuncola Chapel, the place from where the Franciscan movement started, and the site where St. Francis died in 1226. Driving back to your hotel, revel in the memory of the day coming to its end.

Duration: 30 minutes

3h | from €45

Join a 3-hour walking tour of Assisi to see the wonderful Basilica of Saint Francis, Saint Rufino’s Cathedral, and Saint Claire's Basilica as well as the lively main city square – Piazza del Comune.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Centro Storico, Assisi, Province of Perugia, Umbria

Meet the guide at 10:30am and visit the old Roman ruins of the local amphitheater, which was reused in the Middle Ages as a quarry for stones to build local houses. You will see how the amphitheater was turned into a private neighborhood. From there, the view toward the Rocca Maggiore medieval castle is one of the best in the city.
Through narrow alleys and medieval squares you will reach Saint Rufino’s Cathedral and Saint Claire's Basilica. From there, you will get to the main city square, Piazza del Comune. At the square you will see one of the best-preserved Roman temples in Italy – Minerva's temple – which is surrounded by imposing medieval government buildings.
The tour will then head down to the Basilica of Saint Francis which is world-famous for its 13th-14th century frescoes by the best painters of Italy at that time. Among those, the most famous is Giotto.
Come to Assisi and explore with a guide the history, art,and local traditions of one of the most famous hill towns of Italy.

Duration: 3 hours

Pass By: Cattedrale di San Rufino, Assisi, Province of Perugia, Umbria

Assisi Cathedral, dedicated to San Rufino (Rufinus of Assisi) is a major church in Assisi.

Stop At: Chiesa Nuova, Assisi, Province of Perugia, Umbria

Chiesa Nuova.
The Chiesa Nuova is a church in Assisi, Italy, built in 1615 on the site of the presumed birthplace of St. Francis, the house of Pietro di Bernardone. It was then called Chiesa Nuova because it was the last church to be built in Assisi at that time.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Basilica di Santa Chiara, Assisi, Province of Perugia, Umbria

The Basilica of St. Clare of Assisi, realized with the typical pink stone extracted from the quarry of the Subasio mountain, contains precious frescos dating back to the period from the XIIth to the XIVth century.
In the chapel on the right, along the unique nave of St. Clare of Assisi, finishing in transept and polygonal apse, you can admire the Crucifix which, according to tradition, would have invited St. Francesco in the church of St. Damiano in order to "reset up the Church"

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Basilica Superiore di San Francesco d' Assisi, Assisi, Province of Perugia, Umbria

If the solemn and dark lower basilica invites penance and silence, the upper church soars into the sky, airy and bright.
In a Gothic style with French influences, the nave has four bays, cross vaulting, and a polygonal transept and apse.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Basilica Papale e Sacro Convento di San Francesco d'Assisi, Assisi, Province of Perugia, Umbria

Recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the basilica of St. Francis was built under the direction of Brother Elias, vicar general and architect of the order, starting in 1228, just two years after the saint's death, as a place designed to receive his remains.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Assisi, Province of Perugia, Umbria

The Temple of Minerva is an ancient Roman building in Assisi, Umbria, central Italy. It currently houses a church, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, built in 1539 and renovated in Baroque style in the 17th century.

Duration: 15 minutes