At the behest of Pope Saint Pius V (1566-1572), in order to keep the chapels of the Porziuncola, the Transito and the Roseto and other places made sacred by the memory of St. Francis, and welcome the many pilgrims who come to visit them, between 1569 and 1679 the great Basilica of S. Maria degli Angeli was built. The original project of Galeazzo Alessi (1512-1572) is foreseen by a rigorous structural simplicity, conforming to the Franciscan ideal of poverty. The strong telluric events that shake Umbria in 1832 cause serious damage to the Basilica. At the end of a long and complex restoration, directed by the architect Luigi Poletti, it was reopened to worship on 8 September 1840. The fa?de is radically reworked on a project by Cesare Bazzani, with the intention of conferring a monumentality worthy of the importance of the Sanctuary. This was inaugurated on June 8, 1930 and at its summit an imposing statue of the Virgin in gilded bronze was placed.
