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CIAO ADRIANO

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR IN PERUGIA

SAN FRANCESCO IN ASSISI

October  2007

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Perugia has a Knights Templar abbey church (with 1200s Templar and other frescos which give a rare contemporary picture of their dress).  The church was built for the Templars in the mid 1200s, and passed on for a short time to the Hospitalliers when the Templars were supressed in  1312, after which it was a nunnery for 200 years.  Eventually it was secularized in 1860. 

To find the church head off down the road alongside the church of the main hospital past the extensive hospital buildings to the cemetery below (was there a logic in this?).  Our church is just opposite the  cemetery.  It is dedicated to San Bevignate - a hermit with a large local following, whose name never actually seems to have made it into the official Vatican list of saints.  

Sadly the place is (October 2007) closed for restorations, which don't have a great air of activity about them, so a revisit should probably be left till the next decade.

The monastery buildings on the south east side of San Bevingate (right) have been converted into residences, and directly to the south there is a large clear area with BBQ gear evident where the cloister would have been.

Driving down to find the church we had noticed Assisi, which is about 20km away, sitting bathed in sunshine .....

Assisi in the afternoon winter sun - the Basilica di San Francesco is on the left, the Basilica di Santa Chiara on the right, and the Duomo in the top middle.   All have magnificent rose windows.

but sadly cloud had taken over by the time the confusing road system around Ponte San Giovanni (over the Tevere (Tiber)) had been fathomed and the 20km navigated ..... then someone up there gave us a glorious 10 minutes of late afternoon sun ......

so as a token of gratitude, here is a 1600px version of this photo which you can download for private use .........

Click here to download high resolution Basilica di San Francesco photo

San Francesco started out in 1211 in a little abandoned chapel, said to date back to the 300s, in a forest on the plain below Assisi, and around it the branch and straw huts of the first Franciscan community grew as they started by rebuilding the little church. 

The forest has long gone, and the little church, called the Porziuncola Chapel (right), is now covered by the massive bulk of the Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli (below).  Here you can also see the place where the Saint died, a famous thornless rose bush, and a huge range of books covering all things Franciscan.

But the best reason to pop in, if there are not too many coach loads of visitors around, is to sit in front of the beautiful 1393 paintings (especially the Annunciation) behind the altar, painted by Prete (priest) Ilario da Viterbo and his workshop (below and below). 

If you're there on 2 August you are also eligible for the Porziuncola indulgence which Francis (is said to have) negotiated with Pope Honorius III beside the deathbed of the powerful Innocent III in Perugia.

Go to the Page LIst for a full listing of pages and their status

All material © Adrian Fletcher 2000-08 - The contents may not be reproduced without permission - Adrian Fletcher can be contacted at afletch at paradoxplace dot com