By Maria Milvia Morciano
A tree growing from a seed, with St Francis’ outstretched arms like branches.
This is the image chosen for the 12th edition of the “Cortile di Francesco” (Courtyard of Francis), which returns to Assisi from Sep 10 to 13 and Sep 17 to 20 with the title: “A Piece of Good News”. And the news is life.
In the year marking the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi, the event promoted by the friars of the Sacred Convent seeks to engage with the present by starting from what most directly concerns every person: the quality of life and of the relationships that shape it.
Born from the experience of the “Cortile dei Gentili” (Courtyard of the Gentiles), promoted by the then Pontifical Council for Culture to foster dialogue between believers and non-believers, the “Cortile di Francesco” has progressively broadened its scope.
Scholars, artists, institutional figures, and representatives of the scientific and religious worlds are invited to engage with one another through different languages and areas of expertise. At its heart is a deeply Franciscan idea: to view fraternity not simply as an individual disposition, but as a possible cultural category through which to understand society.
Life in relationships
The relationship between the specialization of knowledge and the need to reconstruct an integrated vision of the human person is one of the points emphasized by Friar Giulio Cesareo, OFM Conv, director of the Communications Office of the Sacred Convent. The Cortile, he explains, seeks to address contemporary issues not in the abstract, but by starting from their concrete consequences for people’s lives, placing scientific, critical, aesthetic, institutional, and religious expertise “at the service of life.”
This perspective finds a clear point of reference in St Francis. “The quality of our existence,” Fr Cesareo observes, “is essentially measured by the relationships that build us up and shape the direction of our life together.” It is in this broad sense that the theme chosen for 2026 encompasses happiness and spirituality, health and culture, human relationships, and technological change.
From music to artificial intelligence
The program translates this plurality into talks, performances, music, and moments of reflection.
On Sep 13, Italian pianist and composer Giovanni Allevi is expected to perform with the Italian Symphony Orchestra in the Upper Square of the Basilica of St Francis. On Sep 18, the “Cortile di Francesco” will once again collaborate with the #SIneNOmine theater company of the Spoleto Prison, which will stage Eyes and Cages – The Cell That Closes / The Cell That Saves, a work exploring the relationship between imprisonment and freedom.
Space will also be devoted to the changes brought about by artificial intelligence. On Sep 19, Friar Paolo Benanti, TOR, will take part in an interdisciplinary discussion on AI, while there will also be presentations for the Polisophia project and the book The Pendulum of the Algorithm by Ruben Razzante and Marco Rottigni.
That same day, Fr Cosimo Schena will meet with young people and adults to discuss relationships, faith, and spirituality. The program will also include Assisi4life, the festival promoted by the Municipality of Assisi and created by Barbara Carli, dedicated to movement, nutrition, and sustainable lifestyles. Its presence is consistent with the choice to consider well-being not in isolation, but as part of a broader understanding of the human person.
The Laude in the streets of Assisi
The “Cortile di Francesco” event will conclude on Sunday, Sep 20, returning to the spiritual and musical roots of the Franciscan tradition. Sia Laudato San Francesco, described by the organizers as a popular devotion and a musical liturgy for “lo primer Frate minore” (“the first Friar Minor”), will bring together ensembles and choirs from Umbria and other Italian regions. The Laude will resound through the streets of Assisi’s historic center before finally reaching the Upper Basilica, where the journey will continue with Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony.
The image chosen for this year’s edition symbolically sums up the journey. St Francis is a tree that has grown from a seed; its branches spread outward to embrace a community.
Eight hundred years after his death, the Cortile thus begins again with a very concrete question: what makes life fully human, and which relationships still allow it to flourish today? – Vatican News
