She is known for being the city where they were born, lived and died in St. Francis, patron saint of Italy, and St. Clare.

The origins of Assisi, as with other cities' in Umbria, are uncertain. Was inhabited, originally, from a population, the Umbrians, settled in central Italy. Subsequently resent Etruscan and Roman influence, what it' well documented by many vestiges of the Roman "municipium" called “Asisium”.

Among these vestiges there well preserved, the faade of the Temple of Minerva, the remains of the Forum, the amphitheater, the Roman walls.

After the fall of the Roman Empire the city became a settlement of Goths, around 545. More later fell under Lombard hand. Around the year 1000, became an independent municipality. During this time he met an extraordinary development, especially through the monastic movement (especially the Benedictines).

Around 1180 St. Francis was born, the more 'famous of its citizens. In 1202, during a war with nearby Perugia, Francis was taken prisoner and held in prison for over a year. From 1206, he devoted himself to the service of God, following Christ, through the service of the poor, living in poverty himself. Famous is its public renunciation, in the square of Assisi, all the wealth of the rich parent. Francis was proclaimed a saint in 1228, only two years after his death, by Pope Gregory IX.