A New Digital Platform, Documenting the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi and Its Masterpieces by Giotto and Cimabue, Has Launched

Today, in honor of the 800th anniversary of Saint Francis of Assisi’s death, a new digital platform dedicated to the eponymous basilica was launched by Haltadefinizione, part of the Gruppo Panini Cultura, in collaboration with the General Custody of the Sacred Convent of Saint Francis.

The platform, called Preserving Assisi, is free to access and digitally preserves the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi’s architecture, as well as its masterpieces by Giotto, Cimabue, Simone Martini, and Pietro Lorenzetti.

It was created by a team of specialists who mapped the Basilica’s interior and exterior spaces and its major decorative schemes using ultra-high-resolution gigapixel photography and three-dimensional surveys. This allows users to virtually explore the Basilica, while also establishing a detailed record of its architecture, paintings, and state of conservation that will be used to support research, documentation, monitoring, and conservation over time at the complex.

On the website, visitors can find an overview of the Basilica’s architecture and a close examination of individual frescoes and details that cannot be seen in person.

“Over the past thirty years, the technologies we use to document cultural heritage have changed radically, but our purpose has remained the same: to organise and preserve knowledge so that it can be studied, shared and passed on to future generations,” Lucia Panini, co-founder of Gruppo Panini Cultura, said in a statement.

“Preserving Assisi is one of the most complex projects we have undertaken in our twenty years of work. It brings together, within a single digital environment, a range of tools and multimedia content designed to present, document, and support the study of the Basilica of Saint Francis,” Luca Ponzio, founder and CEO of Haltadefinizione, said in a statement. “It is a project that will continue to grow over time through new acquisitions, further research and new ways of exploring the site. The digital twin makes it possible to connect all this information, offering a broader, more integrated, and more in-depth visual understanding of the monument.”

The project will continue to expand with digitization campaigns expected in the coming months that will add new content and findings to Preserving Assisi.

The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the final resting place of Saint Francis, who founded the Franciscan Order and continually championed peace, fraternity, and care of the natural world. The site remains a place of exceptional spiritual, historical, and cultural significance.

“Preserving Assisi is a project that fills us with great enthusiasm. The experience of the 1997 Assisi earthquake made us even more aware of the importance of creating a photographic record of the highest possible quality to safeguard and enhance this extraordinary artistic heritage, together with its profound significance as an expression of faith,” Friar Marco Moroni, Custos of the Sacred Convent of Saint Francis in Assisi, said in a statement.

“This documentation will allow future restoration work to be undertaken with an extraordinary level of knowledge and precision, while also opening up these artistic and spiritual treasures to audiences around the world in the finest possible detail,” he added. “In doing so, the project marks the beginning of a genuine process of democratising access to this heritage—or perhaps, in more Franciscan terms, it creates a new opportunity for cultural knowledge to be shared in a spirit of fraternity.”