Well, didn't this one cause me a bit of frustration? This mural is painted on the wall alongside the Porta San Francesco (St Francis' Gate), one of the entrances to Assisi, or more specifically to the part of the town containing the basilica which holds the remains of St Francis.

When I first set out to write the commentary for this image in 2022, I was unable to find any guidance on what it was supposed to represent. Even now, coming back to it in late 2023, I'm going to have to guestimate some of it.

It's not the city crest of Assisi which does have a crown (made up of a castle's turrets) which looks nothing like the crown(s) here. It does have a cross on the left, but it's white on blue, not red and is the more common Christian "t" cross than this squarer one that we see here, and it does have a rampant animal on the right but it's a lion, not a gryphon. Oh, and it's a single shield, not a three part concoction with whatever that thing is in the middle.

Let's start with the shield on the right, which I'm pretty confident about. That appears to be a white griffin (alternatively spelt gryphon; a creature with the body of a lion and the wings, head and talons of an eagle) on a red shield.

I mentioned that Assisi is in the province of Perugia in the region of Umbria. (Perugia is also the name of the main city and capital of Umbria.) That symbol (I only found this morning) is the coat of arms of Perugia. So I have no real doubts about the meaning of that third of the mural.

Before we move on to the other parts it's important to remember that during the medieval period there were 2 main factions competing for control of the Italian peninsula. The Guelphs supported the authority of the Pope in matters both secular and spiritual. The Ghibellines supported the Holy Roman Emperor. Things got even messier when one faction would be in the ascendancy and split itself into sub- factions. That happened in Firenze (Florence) after the Guelphs saw off the Ghibellines. They split into white Guelph and black Guelph factions. In 1302 the poet and author Dante ended up on the wrong side of that particular split and was exiled for life from Firenze.

Some cities in Italy were firmly on the Guelph side, some firmly on the Ghibelline side, some varied. Perugia tended to be a Guelph city, supporting the Pope. This allegiance dated back to the 9th century when Charlemagne and his son agreed to Papal control over Perugia, however by the 11th century the city started to assert a more independent policy when it came to relations with the two powers.

Which brings us on to the centre symbol. The top part clearly shows 3 crowns stacked on top of each other. That would in fact be a papal tiara, also called a triregnum or triple crown. A papal tiara was used from 1143 to the last century for the coronation of a new Pope, although the triple crown format apparently dates only from the 14th century. That means that it was probably added either after the gate was built, or late in its construction.

(The first crown represents the Pope's "universal episcopate", that is, claimed authority over all Christian churches, the 2nd represents the claimed "primacy of jurisdiction", and the 3rd represents temporal power.)

Unless it is one awfully big coincidence, the triple crown would have to be a papal symbol. However the red orb, or shield, or whatever it is below the crowns... I have no idea what that is, much less the serrated gold draped over the top of it. 2 vertical bars of red and gold were used as the flag of the Papal States before 1808. The colours could be a coincidence (after all, there are also the colours of Rome the city, and A. S. Roma, its football team), but I doubt it. However I can't find any papal symbols that correspond to this.

The one on the left remains a mystery to me. The Guelphs did use a red cross on a white background as a battle flag. However, this was an intentional reversal of the battle flag of the Ghibellines, which was a white cross on a red background. So, does THAT colour scheme look familiar?

So why would a Guelph city be displaying a Ghibelline coat of arms flag? Maybe it isn't. Maybe that shield represents something completely different that I haven't found yet, and which by sheer coincidence just happens to look like a Ghibelline flag. Or, given what I said about Perugia adopting a more independent stance, maybe a just means that both Ghibellines and Guelphs are welcome here. But given how nasty those wars could get, I'm not completely convinced by my own theory.

I'm sure that some time hundreds of years ago, the meaning of these symbols was clear to a lot of people. (Though I'm not 100% convinced that they were ever clear to everyone.) If I ever return to Assisi, and if I have the time, and if the offices are open, I may see if some of the civic authorities can clue me in as to the meaning of the symbol on the left to see whether I'm right, wrong, or somewhere in between. (I'd also love to know what that symbol below the 3 crowns is, too.)