Assisi and the Chapel of St Francis
The Global Foundation and Assisi
For the past five years, the Global Foundation has enjoyed a special connection with Assisi, a city which shares many of the values and aspirations of the Foundation.
The connection began at one of the Foundation’s global roundtable meetings, convened in Rome since 2014, including on occasions at the Vatican.
In Rome and through its networks, the Foundation was introduced to Professor Dr Stefania Proietti, the Mayor of Assisi. Professor Proietti encouraged the Global Foundation to consider using Assisi as a global meeting place as an alternative to major world capitals where global meetings would normally be convened. The intention of the mayor was to elevate Assisi to an even higher standard of international recognition as a special place where meetings of high purpose could occur, influenced by the spirit of St Francis.
The Foundation accepted the mayor’s invitation and began convening meetings in Assisi, the most prominent of which took place in May 2022, when 50 invited participants from across the world, coming from diverse professional, social, political and religious backgrounds, met and forged the [Assisi Accord] an ongoing agreement to harness global finance to incentivise investment in climate change action.
Then, in early 2023, the mayor of Assisi introduced the Franciscan friars of Assisi to the Foundation, with a simple, yet momentous proposal: to help the friars to build a new chapel in the woods of the Hermitage that could be used year-round for religious and wider purposes. The idea dovetailed neatly with the existing and proposed plans for Assisi, such that the chapel would become central to a whole array of broader activities of arts, culture, and policy-shaping in Assisi and its surrounding region, and also digitally, to fulfill the mayor’s aspiration of elevating Assisi to become a go-to centre for global sustainability and cooperative globalisation.
The Foundation led a small delegation to Assisi in June 2024, where it met with the friars and Mayor Proietti to finalise plans.
Why Assisi?
It is the conviction of the Global Foundation that place matters, as does the involvement of talented and committed people from many diverse backgrounds, in considering solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing our planet. The values, culture and history of a place affect the mood of meetings and other activities that are held there. Today, Assisi is already a renowned global destination for visitors from many faith and other backgrounds, certainly for those who share the Franciscan message of peace and care for nature. The city also has a rich history of art and architecture and is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
As a city that places peace and sustainability at the centre of its values, Assisi is an ideal hub for the intimate, high-level global discussions convened by the Global Foundation. Convening discussions in Assisi influences the outcomes of those discussions in ways that would not happen in major capital cities. Put simply, Assisi changes people.
The new chapel and other local venues in Assisi are now imagined as meeting places that will elevate Assisi as a global hub for sustainability and ecology.
Details
The Australian Fundraising Committee
The Australian Fundraising Committee, appointed by the Board of the Global Foundation, comprises distinguished Australians:
The goal of the committee is to raise 2 million euros by May 2025 to allow for the project’s completion in October 2026.
Additionally, the Foundation has established a cultural advisory committee for the project to provide further artistic and cultural guidance on its development. This committee comprises Italian and international supporters:
– Professor Miriam Mirolla, Chair, Cultural Advisory Committee; Chair of Psychology of Art & Theory of Perception and Psychology of Form, Academy of Fine Arts Rome
– Ms Shiva Lynn Burgos, Founder, The Mariwai Project, Papua New Guinea
– Professor Michelangelo Pivetta, Associate Professor, Architecture and Urban Design, University of Florence
– Sister Adele Howard RSM OAM, Advisor, Eco-Theology and Communications
– Mr Steve Howard, Secretary General, the Global Foundation
Location of the Chapel
The Hermitage of St Francis, or ‘Eremo delle Carceri’ in Italian, is located in an enclave in the woods four kilometres outside of Assisi. Home to the sacred caves where St Francis retreated to pray, it is a place of beauty and spiritual power. It contains several outdoor chapels spread throughout the woods where St Francis talked to the birds and animals, and studied the stars. The Hermitage is now visitable by Franciscan friars.
However, the Hermitage site, nestled in a natural park, is ecologically fragile, and, although current visitation is open and free, as the friars prefer it, there are practical limits to the number of visitors who would be able to visit the site as it becomes more popular.
A very important practical consideration for the friars and for the city will be to manage access to the Hermitage in the future, taking into account the constraints of the site.
Project Activities
The centrepiece of the Foundation’s project is the construction of a modest chapel in the woods of the Hermitage of St Francis of Assisi, which will accommodate 70 people for religious and wider purposes. The construction of the chapel has received approval from the local government and is expected to be completed by October 2026.
Additional ideas for the Assisi project, which are being developed in collaboration with artistic and cultural experts and local stakeholders, include:
- collaborating with other existing heritage venues in Assisi, for high-level global meetings, as well as artistic and cultural events
- spiritual retreats in the area, extending beyond the current patterns
- a digital map of the sites of Assisi connected to the history of St Francis and to other spiritual places of global significance
- the possibility of organising larger, recurring cultural events with international appeal, utilising various sites and venues in Assisi, along with the chapel on special occasions.
The spirituality and symbolic ideals of St Francis are imagined as the thread connecting each of these activities.
Design of the Chapel
The vision of the friars is to build a simple chapel in harmony with the natural surroundings, in honour of the tradition of St Francis and his deep respect for the Earth. A beautiful design has been prepared by distinguished architects from the University of Florence using sustainable materials and design principles. In the words of the architects, it is a design that defies gravity and uplifts the soul, a shelter among the branches. The chapel will accommodate only 70 people in various, flexible configurations.
A detailed overview of the location, cultural significance, and artistic design of the project can be found in this video.
