Assissi

2026 marks the 800th anniversary of St. Francis’s death, and Assisi has been officially designated a Franciscan Jubilee Year running through January 2027. That means bigger crowds than usual at the basilicas, more pilgrims mixed in with the regular tourist flow, and a rare window in which the town’s usual quiet rhythm gets replaced with something closer to genuine religious pilgrimage energy. If you’ve been putting off a visit, this is the year that changes what you’ll actually see there.

Getting there and the station name confusion

The train doesn’t stop in the hilltop town itself. It stops down in the valley at a station technically shared with the neighboring town of Santa Maria degli Angeli, sometimes signed as Santa Maria degli Angeli-Assisi depending on which announcement or app you’re reading. From there, the C bus covers the roughly five kilometers up to the historic center, tickets cost 1.30 euros from the station newsstand or 1.50 euros paid to the driver with exact change. Don’t be thrown off if a map app or an older guide calls it something else entirely, this is the correct station regardless of the label.

If you’re driving, know that the medieval center itself is entirely car-free, and parking is handled through four municipal lots ringing the walls: Porta Nuova, Matteotti, Mojano, and Giovanni Paolo II. Porta Nuova is the closest to the Basilica di San Francesco and charges by the hour, while the daily rate at the main lot rose to 16 euros for 2026. If you want free parking, leave the car down at Santa Maria degli Angeli and take the eight-minute bus up instead.

A parking scam worth naming directly

At Lot D specifically, people in fake hi-vis vests occasionally position themselves near the entrance and demand a 5 euro tip for “helping” you park, acting as if they’re official attendants. They aren’t. All four municipal lots use automatic ticket machines, and no legitimate attendant needs a cash tip to let you through. Ignore anyone who approaches your car this way.

The basilica during the jubilee year

Entry to the Basilica di San Francesco is free, though audio tours run about 7 dollars and small guided tours start around 50. One important 2026-specific wrinkle: because of the special exposition of St. Francis’s remains for the anniversary, guided tours inside the basilica are suspended from February 15 through April 6, 2026, with guides explaining from outside before visitors enter on their own. If your trip falls in that window, budget extra time since the self-guided flow through the Upper and Lower Basilica moves slower than a normal guided pace. Arrive before 9am if you want to see Giotto’s frescoes without a wall of shoulders in front of them, this matters even more than usual during the jubilee crowds.

Calendimaggio is not what it sounds like

If you’re picturing a saints’ day procession, recalibrate. Calendimaggio is a spring rivalry festival, not primarily a religious one, held the first Wednesday through Saturday after May 1st, in which the town splits into two historic factions, the Parte de Sopra and Parte de Sotto, and stages four days of medieval costume, music, and theatrical competition rooted in a centuries-old neighborhood rivalry between the Fiumi and Nepis families. It has more in common with Siena’s Palio than with a Catholic feast day, and it’s one of the liveliest, least solemn things happening in an otherwise contemplative town.

Where to eat, ranked by view and vibe

Osteria del Mulino sits inside the Bosco di San Francesco just below the basilica, surrounded by vineyards, and lunch there in warm weather is one of the better meals in town for the setting alone. La Selva, a few steps from the Basilica di San Francesco, leans more gourmet than the standard Umbrian trattoria and does an excellent pigeon dish if it’s on the menu when you visit. For something more traditional, Trattoria Palotta serves classic Umbrian mushroom and meat dishes in a rustic, arched dining room that hasn’t changed its character in decades, and it remains the trattoria locals actually recommend rather than the one aimed squarely at tour groups.

Where to stay

Nun Assisi Relais and Spa Museum, a five-star property built into a former convent complex, is the standout choice if you want a genuinely memorable stay rather than just a place to sleep, complete with an on-site pool. Its sister property, Nun Relais, occupies a 13th-century Benedictine convent perched on one of the town’s higher points, a few minutes’ walk from the center. Budget travelers do well at family-run bed and breakfasts scattered through the historic core, most of which include a proper homemade breakfast rather than the packaged pastries typical of chain hotels.

Practical notes

Dress modestly for both basilicas, shoulders and knees covered, this is enforced more strictly here than at most Italian churches given the religious significance of the site. Spring and fall bring the mildest weather and the thinnest crowds outside of festival weeks, though 2026’s jubilee status means even shoulder season will run busier than a typical year. Umbrian wines like Torgiano Rosso Riserva and Orvieto Classico pair well with the region’s heavier dishes, wild boar and truffle in particular, and are worth seeking out over the more famous Tuscan bottles a short drive away.

Stay at least two nights if you can. Assisi rewards an evening walk through the empty historic center after the day-trip crowds from Rome and Florence have cleared out, when the basilicas are lit and the streets belong almost entirely to residents again.