The Forest of St. Francis of Assisi

I beg you pardon for my terrible written English... sorry!


The visit to the Forest of St. Francis of Assisi is a splendid example of Italian rural landscape of 64 hectares and more than 800 years of history. It is a real inner journey to discover the message of harmony between human beings and creation that St. Francis taught the world just from these places. To become the protagonists of this new form of pilgrimage in the Third Millennium in the nature, history and the sacred, you are invited to walk the narrow path, starting from the Basilica of San Francesco and through the Forest of St. Francis, owned by the Papal Basilica - the Sacred Monastery of St. Francis of Assisi, through woodland and fields, clearings and groves. Once in the valley, you will discover evidence of a microcosm inhabited, between the thirteenth and fourteenth century by Benedictine nuns, which includes a church, a mill, the remains of a hospital and a monastery, and, later, an old tower-mill from which you can admire and enjoy the "Third Heaven", the extraordinary work of Land Art of the Master Michelangelo Pistoletto made especially for Saint Francis Wood.
Three paths, one message. Although the nature and the landscape are the soul of this corner of Umbria, to understand all the various facets of the message that originates from the forest is necessary that they be read and understood by comparing them with the story, the man's work and the activities of religious orders who have lived and worked here.
During the visit, therefore, we will propose three interpretations of this historical system - landscape, but three independent paths overlap each other: the "scenic route" that highlights the historical role of the Italian countryside, the "historic route" which tells the history of the place through its original buildings, the "spiritual journey" that encourages deep reflection on the historical relationship, present and future, between Man and Nature.