Ulisse - The Pleasure of Discovery

Francesco of Assisi - The Surprises of His Life and His Time

The life of an extraordinary man, told through the frescoes of a great artist, the churches and squares of a stunning city, the places and testimonies of a unique and unrepeatable period in Italian history. Alberto Angela guides us in the footsteps of Francis of Assisi. We discover the traditional saint, admirably depicted in Giotto's fresco cycle in the Basilica of Assisi. But we also seek to reveal the more human side of Francis, a man with his passions, some of them fiery. We learn about his enemies and his friends, such as Saint Clare, also from Assisi, founder of the female equivalent of the Franciscan order. Well-known episodes in the life of Saint Francis, such as the conversion of the wolf of Gubbio, the kiss of the lepers, and the sermon to the birds, actually conceal symbolic messages, evident to medieval people, which, centuries later, we struggle to understand.