GRAND HOTEL ASSISI

The origins of Assisi, as for other cities in Umbria, are uncertain. It was originally inhabited by a population, the Umbrians, settled in central Italy. Subsequently it was affected by the Etruscan and Roman influence, as is well documented by the numerous vestiges of the Roman "municipium" called Asisium. Among these vestiges there is, well preserved, the facade of the Temple of Minerva, remains of the Forum, the amphitheater, the Roman walls. After the fall of the Roman Empire the city became a settlement of the Goths, around 545. Later it fell into the hands of the Lombards. Around the year 1000, it became an independent municipality. During this period he experienced an extraordinary development especially thanks to the monastic movements (especially the Benedictines). Around 1180 San Francesco was born, the most famous of its citizens. In 1202, during a war with neighboring Perugia, Francesco was taken prisoner and held in prison for over a year. From 1206, he dedicated himself to the service of God, in following Christ, through the service of the poor, living as a poor man himself. Famous is his public renunciation, in the square of Assisi, to all the wealth of the rich parent. Francis was proclaimed a saint in 1228, just two years after his death, by Pope Gregory IX. The city was first under the empire and then under the papacy. Later it was the turn of the seigniories like that of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, of the Montefeltro family, of Braccio Fortebraccio and of Francesco Sforza, until the middle of the sixteenth century, when Umbria was conquered by Pope Paolo III who built the famous " Rocca Paolina "in Perugia and the papal control over the city can be restored. Later, in the nineteenth century, the city became part of the nascent Italian state, along with the other cities of Umbria.