Our itinerary begins outside the ancient city walls of Asisium, in the upper part of town. Near Porta Perlici there is what remains of the Roman amphitheater, which can be recognized from the elliptical arrangement of the medieval houses built over it. Walking along Via Anfiteatro Romano, you can notice the arches from the ancient structure and, climbing the steps at the end of the street, you can see the original arena from above, which today is used as a garden.
Not far away, in the Piazza Matteotti underground car park, you can see part of a retaining wall that belonged to the Roman circus, as well as the bottom of a swimming pool and a long tunnel, called the Via Tecta. This makes it possible to reach Viale Galeazzo Alessi by a route that crosses the garden of the Cathedral of San Rufino.
Not far from Piazza Matteotti, at the beginning of Via del Torrione we find what remains of a large mausoleum. The bizarre structure that appears before us is the inside of a Roman tomb made from concrete, stripped of its original facing of marble slabs, which were reused for the construction of the surrounding buildings. Its presence in this area is undoubtedly due to the nearby Amphitheater, since the tomb most likely belonged to a member of the wealthy Petroni family, which paid for the construction of the amphitheater.
Continuing down Via del Torrione, which shows some arches of the Roman circus in a privately-owned house on the right side, we come to Piazza San Rufino.
Arriving in Piazza San Rufino we immediately find ourselves in the historic center of Assisi, in one of the main squares from the Umbrian-Roman period. The beautiful cathedral dedicated to the town’s patron saint contains traces of the ancient Umbrian-Roman settlement.
Entering through the left entrance, along the wall there is an impressive cistern made from large blocks of travertine that originally supplied the area with water coming from Mt. Subasio and now serves as the foundation for the church bell tower. At the top right of the wall you can read the inscription giving the name of the cistern, the circus and an entrance arch to the town and mentioning the construction of a stretch of city walls by the local magistrates.
The crypt of the cathedral and various rooms displaying finds from the Roman era can also be visited by purchasing a ticket to the Diocesan Museum.
Going down Via San Rufino, at the beginning of which you can see a short stretch of road paved with stone, we reach Piazza del Comune, where the ancient Temple of Minerva stands majestically. The building still has its original facade with fluted columns and Corinthian capitals, a jewel of Roman architecture that has survived up to the present. The Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva has long been inside, but at the sides of the altar you can still see the red porphyry floor of the temple cella.
To the attentive eye, Piazza del Comune gives a hint of what hides beneath it. A set of white lines on the modern pavement outlines the shapes of the structures that were part of what is known as the Roman Forum.
From Via Portica, the road that goes down towards the Basilica of Saint Francis, you can enter (after purchasing an admission ticket) the Museum of the Roman Forum and Archeological Collection which, along with exhibiting the ancient Umbrian and Roman finds discovered in Assisi and the surrounding area, also allows access to the underground area. It is rewarding to immerse yourself in the mighty remains of the ancient city of Asisium to try to imagine what daily life must have been like for the people who lived there at the time. Two screens along the itinerary show virtual reproductions that offer visitors a glimpse of the splendor of the past.
To conclude the itinerary you can make reservations at the information point for a guided tour of the two Roman domus (houses) found below the town’s buildings. The elegant Lararium Domus can be visited in Via Sant’Antonio, underneath Palazzo Giampé (the police headquarters); its marvelous Roman fresco in the third Pompeian style will leave you speechless. In the House of Propertius, underneath the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore or Sanctuary of the Spoliation in Piazza del Vescovado, you can admire its mysterious rooms frescoed and decorated with enigmatic graffiti.
