Assisi Cathedral: View of the facade and campanile

Dedicated to San Rufino (Rufinus of Assisi). In this church Saint Francis of Assisi (1182), Saint Clare (1193) and many of their original disciples were baptised. It was on hearing Francis preaching in this church in 1209 that Clare became deeply touched by his message and realized her calling. In Umbrian Romanesque style, this was the third church built on the same site to contain the remains of bishop Rufinus of Assisi, martyred in the 3rd century. The construction was started in 1140 to the designs by Giovanni da Gubbio, as attested by the wall inscription visible inside the apse. In 1571 the interior of the cathedral, originally Romanesque in style, was completely modified in late Renaissance style by the architect Gian Galeazzo Alessi from Perugia.