S.Francesco's Church:  Basilica Inferiore

The refined majesty of the Gothic portal is a clue to what lies beyond. The two entrances are surrounded by elegant, slender columns the upper section of which curves towards the ogive with a superb rose-window beneath. The arch features the wording: Indulgenza plenaria quotidiana perpetua.

The Lower Basilica features just one nave, separated by arches in the very middle with four spans and heavily ribbed cross-vaults, standing on short semi-circular pillars with no base. The wings of the transept, on the other hand, feature barrel vaults. The entrance is large but rather dark. Inside you can see: the Chapel of Santa Caterina, the Chapel of San Sebastiano, the Mausoleum of the Florentine Cerchi family (14^{th century gothic), a Gallery (which the Nepis family from Assisi had built in the middle of the 15th century) - the latter features the sculptured Papal Bulls, proof of the considerable interest in this Basilica shown by the Roman Catholic Church); the Mausoleum accredited to Queen Jolanda of Cyprus, the Chapel of Sant’Antonio Abate, the Chapel of Santa Caterina by Matteo Gattapone of Gubbio (where Cardinal Albornoz is buried).}

The series of paintings in the Lower Basilica

The crypt was dug two years after recognition of the body of the saint, in 1820. It was designed by the architects Brizzi and Belli, but its neo-classical lines were not at all in keeping with the two churches above, and so in 1932 it was redesigned and presented to the public (on the basis of a design by Ugo Tarchi) with more sober lines reflecting the simplicity of Franciscan thinking