Abbazia di San Pietro

On Piazza San Pietro at the edge of Assisi's historic centre, the Abbey of San Pietro preserves the city's monastic history. Its church was consecrated in 1254; the crypt is dedicated to San Vittorino, and the museum in the former abbey cellars includes a triptych by Matteo da Gualdo and later sacred art.

Why it matters

Founded by Benedictine monks at the end of the tenth century over a Roman necropolis, the abbey was one of Assisi's early religious centres. The Benedictines left around 1252, and Cistercian monks took over and completed the church, which Pope Innocent IV consecrated in 1254. The complex stood outside the city walls until the fourteenth-century expansion enclosed it in 1316. The crypt honours San Vittorino, a third-century bishop of the city. A museum opened in the abbey cellars in 2002, bringing together objects and remains associated with the site's history.

What to notice

The facade, built of pink Monte Subasio stone, has two horizontal orders separated by a cornice of small hanging arches, with lesenes dividing it into three vertical bands. Rose windows sit above the portals. The central doorway is flanked by carved lions, while vine scrolls and animal motifs decorate its jambs and archivolts. Inside, three naves divided by pillars lead to a raised presbytery and dome; ogival arches support the wooden roof of the central nave. Fourteenth- and fifteenth-century tombs are set into the walls. The Gothic chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento contains a triptych by Matteo da Gualdo showing the Madonna enthroned between Saints Vittorino and Pietro.

Context and history

The Benedictines held the abbey for more than two centuries. Around 1252 the Cistercians took over and completed the church. After the city expanded its walls to enclose the abbey in 1316, the complex later served for a time as a civil hospital. A major restoration in 1954 returned it to religious use. The museum route through the old cellars includes the crypt of San Vittorino with its reliquary shrine and sarcophagus, remains of a Roman city gate, a thirteenth-century underground passage that once linked the abbey to the hospital for the poor founded in 1250, and sacred artworks by Dalì, Sassu, Balla, Funi and Fazzini.