Basilica of Saint Clare

Basilica of Saint Clare tickets: which one to buy

Entry is free, as at the basilica of St Francis at the other end of the town. There is no ticket, no audio guide and no official tour service; guides working in Assisi include Santa Chiara in their circuit and charge for the walk as a whole. The church is at the eastern end of Assisi on its own terrace, ten minutes on foot from the basilica of St Francis along the main street, and the walk between them is the spine of any visit to the town.

Nothing needs booking. The adjoining monastery of Poor Clares is enclosed and not open to visitors. The terrace outside has a view over the Umbrian plain and costs nothing. The Poor Clares sing the offices behind a grille and visitors may listen from the nave at published times.

Visiting Basilica of Saint Clare: what to see

Clare, a noblewoman of Assisi, ran away in 1212 to follow Francis and founded the order now called the Poor Clares; she died in 1253 and this church was built over her body between 1257 and 1265 by Filippo Campello, in pink and white stone from Mount Subasio with three enormous flying buttresses across the facade that are the building's signature. Inside it is austere and largely bare, the frescoes having been whitewashed in the seventeenth century. Two things draw visitors.

In the Oratory of the Crucifix hangs the painted cross of San Damiano, the twelfth-century Byzantine crucifix that spoke to Francis and told him to repair the church; it was brought here for safekeeping in 1257. And in the crypt below lies Clare's body, exhumed in 1850 and now displayed in a habit behind glass. Clare's hair, cut by Francis when she took the habit, and her patched tunic are displayed in the crypt beside the tomb. The nave is single and aisleless, with a rose window over the west door, and the buttresses outside were added in the fourteenth century when the walls began to spread.

Basilica of Saint Clare opening hours and the best time to go

Open daily from morning to evening with a long break in the middle of the day, and closure during services. Assisi is busiest from Easter to October and around the feast of St Francis on 4 October; the feast of St Clare falls on 11 August. The church is small and a pilgrim group fills it. Dress code is enforced at the door as strictly as at the Francis basilica, with knees and shoulders covered.

Photography is forbidden inside. Allow half an hour. San Damiano itself, the small church where Clare lived for forty years, lies fifteen minutes downhill outside the walls and is far quieter than anything inside them. The terrace outside is the best viewpoint in the town and is free at any hour, including after dark.