In the year marking the eighth centenary of the death of Saint Francis, Preserving Assisi was launched: the digital platform dedicated to the Basilica of Saint Francis. A project that brings into the digital realm a history of documenting the monument that began in the 1990s with Franco Cosimo Panini Editore and the Mirabilia Italiae series.
On 16 September 2026, Preserving Assisi was presented at the Spadolini Hall of the Italian Ministry of Culture. The project is promoted by Haltadefinizione, a technology company of Gruppo Panini Cultura, and the General Custody of the Sacred Convent of Saint Francis of the Conventual Friars Minor.
The new platform brings together ultra-high-resolution gigapixel images, virtual tours, three-dimensional surveys and a digital archive, with the aim of progressively building an increasingly comprehensive record of the Basilica of Saint Francis and its artistic heritage.
But the story of Preserving Assisi began much earlier.
Mirabilia Italiae: documenting a monument through images
In 1994, Franco Cosimo Panini launched Mirabilia Italiae, the series directed by Salvatore Settis and dedicated to the systematic documentation of Italy’s great monuments.
Each volume is based on extensive photographic campaigns, surveys, graphic documentation, catalogue entries and scholarly contributions. The aim is not simply to illustrate a monument, but to create a comprehensive visual mapping of it, from its architecture and decorative cycles down to individual details. Within this approach, photography becomes an integral part of the process of studying and documenting cultural heritage.
Among the series’ most important projects is the one dedicated to the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. During the 1990s, while the publication was being prepared, an extensive photographic campaign was carried out throughout the Basilica complex, producing around 2,000 images of its interior and exterior spaces.
On 26 September 1997, the earthquake that struck Umbria and Marche caused the collapse of part of the frescoed vaults of the Upper Basilica. Some of those surfaces had been photographed shortly before the earthquake. Images originally created for an editorial and scholarly project suddenly acquired an additional value: they became a record of the condition of the frescoes before their destruction and a fundamental reference for the subsequent reassembly and restoration work.
The Mirabilia Italiae publication dedicated to the Basilica was published in its complete form in 2002: four volumes, almost 2,000 pages and more than 2,400 colour images, documenting the monument through comparisons between its condition before the earthquake and after restoration.
This is where one of the principles that still underpins the work of Gruppo Panini Cultura becomes clear: accurately documenting a cultural asset means creating a record of its condition at a specific moment in time, a source that can acquire new meanings and functions over the years.
From editorial photography to gigapixel imaging
As digital photography evolved, this same approach found new tools.
In 2005, Haltadefinizione was founded with the aim of applying new ultra-high-resolution imaging technologies to cultural heritage. In 2009, the company returned to Assisi to digitise the 28 scenes of the Stories of Saint Francis in the Upper Basilica in gigapixel resolution, producing images capable of revealing pictorial details that are difficult to observe during a normal visit.
The relationship between the Panini Group and the Basilica has therefore continued through different tools, but with a clear continuity: producing high-quality images and data, organising them and making them available for the knowledge, study and conservation of cultural heritage.
Preserving Assisi: an evolving digital record
With Preserving Assisi this journey now takes another step forward. The platform brings together gigapixel photography, 360° environments, three-dimensional surveys and models, and a digital archive within a single system. Visitors can move virtually through the Basilica, explore its artworks and reach details that are difficult to perceive in person. At the same time, the same data provides a documentary resource designed to support scholars, conservators and researchers in their work on study, monitoring and conservation.
During the campaigns carried out between 2025 and 2026, more than 27,000 photographs were acquired, generating over 12 TB of data and 98 final digital assets, including gigapixel images and 360° panoramas.
Preserving Assisi is an ongoing project: new acquisition campaigns and new content will be progressively integrated into the platform, expanding the digital documentation of the Basilica complex over time.
From the great photographic atlas of Mirabilia Italiae to gigapixel imaging and the digital twin, the technology changes but one principle remains constant: to create a reliable record of cultural heritage, preserve it and make it accessible over time.
Promoted by Haltadefinizione and the General Custody of the Sacred Convent of Saint Francis of the Conventual Friars Minor, Preserving Assisi is endorsed and supported by the National Committee for the Celebrations of Saint Francis. The project also has the patronage of the Umbria Region and the City of Assisi, and is carried out in collaboration with the University of Florence and with the support of BPER.
