My Journey

San Damiano

The quiet church and cloister where the call of Saint Francis and the enclosed life of Saint Clare took shape.

Location
Assisi, Italy 43.0612° N · 12.6258° E
Type
Sanctuary church and early Poor Clare cloister Small Romanesque church with a 13th-century cloister and refectory of the Poor Clares
Dedication
Saint Damian, with the church and cloister of the early Poor Clares
Time Needed
1 hour to half a day Allow time for the walk down from Porta Nuova
Why Go

Where Francis Listened and Clare Stayed

San Damiano is a pilgrimage to a place rather than an object. The original crucifix is preserved in the Basilica of Saint Clare, while this is the traditional setting of Francis's encounter and the home where Clare and her sisters lived an enclosed life for more than forty years.

A Small Church Rebuilt and Made a Home

San Damiano was a small abandoned church when Francis, after his conversion, began to repair it with his own hands and stones he gathered or begged in the town above. The early Franciscan sources connect this work to the call he is traditionally said to have heard from the painted crucifix in the church. The site became Clare's at the end of 1212. After Francis received her into religious life at the Porziuncola on Palm Sunday of that year, and after brief stays at two other convents while her family tried to retrieve her, Clare settled at San Damiano with her first companions. Her younger sister Catherine, Saint Agnes of Assisi, joined her within months. Clare remained here for forty-one years. The community moved up to the new basilica in 1260, seven years after her death, taking her body and the original crucifix with them.

The church is a small Romanesque stone building with a single nave and a low choir behind the altar. The 13th-century cloister, refectory, and dormitory of the Poor Clares survive almost intact, kept at the same modest scale as the first community. The garden behind the cloister opens toward the Umbrian plain.

Francis, around 1205 or 1206, is traditionally said to have heard Christ speak from the crucifix in this church and to have begun rebuilding it with his own hands.

Clare arrived at San Damiano in 1212 after Francis received her into religious life at the Porziuncola, and lived here in enclosure until her death in 1253.

Saint Agnes of Assisi joined her sister Clare here a few weeks after her arrival.

The community moved to the new Basilica of Saint Clare in 1260, taking the original crucifix and Clare's body with them.

San Damiano has been in the continuous custody of the Conventual Franciscans since the 13th century.

Spiritual Significance

San Damiano is not a relic site. It is the place the relics came from.

San Damiano is one of the quieter destinations in Assisi and is best approached as a place of silence and slow attention. The custody of the Conventual Franciscans keeps it as a place of prayer rather than as a museum.

Do Not Miss · 4 stops

Do Not Miss

  1. The church and the copy of the San Damiano Crucifix

    The original is in the Basilica of Saint Clare; the copy here is hung where the original once was.

  2. The Poor Clare choir behind the altar

    The small enclosed space with the wooden stalls of the first community.

  3. The refectory of the early Poor Clares

    Preserved with the seats of Clare and Saint Agnes of Assisi indicated.

  4. The garden behind the apse

    Traditionally associated with the composition of the Canticle of the Creatures in 1225.

What to notice
  • How small everything is. The choir, the refectory, and the dormitory are kept at the scale Clare and her sisters actually lived.
  • That the most important object here is preserved elsewhere. San Damiano is a place rather than a relic site.
  • How the building still functions as a sanctuary rather than as a museum, with daily prayer and Mass.
  • The view from the garden over the Umbrian plain, which Francis would have known when he composed the Canticle of the Creatures.
Visit Plans · 3 plans · add to a journey

Visit Plans

  • Duration 45 min Best for Pilgrims with a short window

    Church and choir

    3 ordered stops

    Walk down from Porta Nuova, pray in the church before the copy of the crucifix, and step into the enclosed choir of the first Poor Clares behind the altar before climbing back to the town.

    1. Walk down through Porta Nuova
    2. Pray before the copy of the San Damiano Crucifix
    3. The choir of the first Poor Clares
  • Duration 1 hr 30 min Best for First-time pilgrims

    The whole sanctuary

    4 ordered stops

    As above, plus the refectory and dormitory of the early community and a quiet pause in the garden behind the apse, where most of the Canticle of the Creatures was composed.

    1. Church and copy of the crucifix
    2. Choir of the first Poor Clares
    3. Refectory and dormitory
    4. Garden of the Canticle behind the apse
  • Duration Half day Best for Pilgrims following Clare

    San Damiano and the Basilica of Saint Clare

    4 ordered stops

    Pair the place Clare actually lived with the basilica that now holds her body and the original crucifix. Walk back up into the old town and end at the Cathedral of San Rufino, where she was baptized.

    1. San Damiano church, cloister, and garden
    2. Walk up through Porta Nuova
    3. Basilica of Saint Clare: tomb and original crucifix
    4. Cathedral of San Rufino

Walk down to San Damiano in the late morning or early evening, when the path is quiet and the Umbrian light is soft. The site only opens fully if it is approached slowly and in silence.

How to Visit

How to Visit

Walk down from the southern gate of Assisi. Enter the church first and pray before the copy of the crucifix. Step into the small choir behind the altar where Clare and her sisters prayed. Continue into the cloister, the refectory, and the early dormitory above. End in the garden behind the apse, where Francis is traditionally said to have composed most of the Canticle of the Creatures.

  • Getting Down San Damiano sits below the old town. Walk out through Porta Nuova on the southern wall and follow the lane downhill through olive groves; allow about fifteen minutes each way. The descent is part of the visit.
  • Where to Begin Enter the small church first and pray before the copy of the San Damiano Crucifix, hung where the original once was. The original is now at the Basilica of Saint Clare in the town above.
  • Where to Pause Step into the enclosed choir behind the altar, then the refectory of the first community. These rooms are kept at the scale Clare and her sisters actually lived, and they reward stillness more than inspection.
  • The Garden End in the garden behind the apse, traditionally associated with the composition of most of the Canticle of the Creatures in 1225. The view over the Umbrian plain is the one Francis would have known.
  • Silence and Dress Strict silence is observed throughout the complex. Shoulders and knees covered. Photography is permitted with restraint in the cloister and garden, but not inside the church or the choir.
  • Hours and Custody San Damiano is a living sanctuary in the custody of the Conventual Franciscans, with daily Mass and a midday closure. Confirm current hours on the official sanctuary site before walking down.
Planning your visit · reviewed September 14, 2026

A working novitiate with a real winter timetable.

San Damiano is not a monument. A Franciscan community has been here since 1260 and the house is currently a novitiate. The friars publish hours for the church and for the sanctuary tour separately, and both close for the middle of the day and end appreciably earlier in winter.

Time needed
About an hour, and it rewards longer. The walk down and back is a further forty minutes.
Getting there
A fifteen-minute walk downhill from Porta Nuova through olive terraces. The return climbs the same slope.
Best time
Late afternoon in summer, when the light is in the cloister and the day's groups have gone.
Winter closes the day early
The friars publish separate winter hours, and in winter both the church and the sanctuary tour end around two hours earlier than in summer.
  • A late-afternoon visit that works in July does not work in January. Check the current timetable before walking down.
Closed in the middle of the day
The friars list a midday closure for both the church and the sanctuary route, with a reopening in the early afternoon.
  • Most churches in Assisi close for the middle of the day and reopen in the middle of the afternoon. Plan the walk between sites, or a rest, into those hours.
The church and the sanctuary tour are not the same access
The church opens earlier and closes later than the guided route through the cloister, choir and the oratory of Saint Clare.
The friars live here
The house is a novitiate. Parts of the complex are the community's own, the daily office is public, and the rhythm of the house comes before the rhythm of visits.
  • The friars publish Lauds, Mass, adoration and Vespers; the evening hours shift in winter.
Relics, Tombs, Sacred Objects

Relics, Tombs, Sacred Objects

Copy of the San Damiano Crucifix

Devotional crucifix, faithful copy

Yes, above the small altar of the church

Sanctuary of San Damiano · Sacred Convent of Assisi
Documented

The original 12th-century crucifix has been preserved at the Basilica of Saint Clare since the community moved there in 1260; the cross above the altar here is a faithful copy hung in the place where the original once was

Choir of the first Poor Clares

Preserved monastic space

Open to quiet prayer

Sanctuary of San Damiano
Documented

The small enclosed choir behind the altar, with the wooden stalls of the early community, is preserved within the complex

Refectory of the early community

Preserved monastic space

Visited as part of the cloister

Sanctuary of San Damiano
Documented

The 13th-century refectory survives, with the places of Saint Clare and Saint Agnes of Assisi traditionally indicated at the table

Garden of the Canticle of the Creatures

Site of tradition

A place of silence behind the apse

Early Franciscan sources · Sanctuary tradition
Traditional

Associated by the early Franciscan biographers with the composition of most of the Canticle of the Creatures by Saint Francis in 1225

Source note Traditional attributions are presented as tradition, with documentation named where it exists.

Connected Saints

Connected Saints

Saint Clare of Assisi The place she actually lived The small church and cloister below the southern walls of Assisi, where Clare and her first sisters lived in enclosure from 1212 until her death in 1253. Saint Francis of Assisi Repair and conversion The church where Francis is traditionally said to have heard Christ call him to repair the Church, and later the home of Clare and the Poor Clares.
Continue Your Pilgrimage · Continue the Assisi day

Continue Your Pilgrimage

Map · Assisi, Italy

Map

Editorial sources

The cross that hangs above the altar at San Damiano today is a faithful copy. The original 12th-century crucifix has been preserved in the Basilica of Saint Clare in the old town since the Poor Clare community moved there in 1260.

Official

sandamiano.org

Last reviewed

Pending review.

Photo credits
  1. Hero. Laurajsi / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Source. CC BY-SA 3.0.