Photo spot in Assisi & Umbria
Basilica di San Francesco — the two piazzas
Two stacked churches on the western spur of town, with a long arcaded lawn-and-stone piazza in front of each.
About Basilica di San Francesco — the two piazzas
Get directionsThe basilica is built in two levels: a lower church entered from the side and an upper church whose rose-windowed front looks out over the valley. Each has its own piazza, and both are large, open and paved in pink-white limestone.
The upper piazza is the one to photograph. A long arcade runs down one flank, the grass slopes away to the west, and the whole valley opens beyond the parapet, which means you can have columns, grass or a hundred kilometres of Umbria behind you without moving.
Because the front faces west, the façade is flat and grey until early afternoon and then turns cream, then pink through to sunset. The lower piazza with its double arcade stays cooler and works all day.
Photography is not permitted inside either church and the rule is enforced, so plan the session outdoors. The basilica is an active pilgrimage site — busiest around Easter, in early May and on 4 October — and check whether a service is running before you fix a time.
Best time to shoot
First light for an empty piazza, or the last two hours for pink stone
Tips
The arcade on the upper piazza gives a repeating column line that works better than the façade itself for portraits. Shoulders should be covered if anyone plans to go inside afterwards.
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Other spots in Assisi & Umbria
Rocca Maggiore
The medieval fortress on the ridge above Assisi, with the whole town and the Umbrian plain laid out beneath it.
Piazza del Comune and the Temple of Minerva
Assisi's main square, with a first-century Roman temple front — six columns and a pediment — still standing in the row of buildings.
Eremo delle Carceri
A small monastery wedged into a ravine in the holm-oak woods above town, four kilometres up Monte Subasio.
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