San Francesco is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church in Urbania, region of

Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...

, Italy. It has a diverse set of styles reflecting refurbishments over the centuries.

History

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

community was putatively located here by

St Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a Mysticism, mystic Italian Catholic Church, Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most vener ...

himself. The town of Castel delle Ripe was destroyed during wars in 1277. The initial patron for this church was Guglielmo Durante, a

papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title ''legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...

. The church and an adjacent convent were begun in Romanesque-Gothic style in 1282, and completed by 1290 and consecrated in 1227. In the 16th century, reconstruction gave the church a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

update, but a further

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

refurbishment, giving the nave undulating walls with echoing cornices, took place in the 18th century. The campanile bell-tower dates to the 15th century. The cloister

lunettes A lunette (French ''lunette'', "little moon") is a half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void. A lunette may also be segmental, and the arch may be an arc take ...

have frescoes depicting the ''Life of St Francis'' (circa 1570) by

Giorgio Picchi Giorgio Picchi il Giovane (active 1586-1599) was an Italian painter active in Rome, Cremona, Rimini, Urbino, and Urbania. He was either a pupil or follower of Federico Barocci. Born in Castel Durante, present-day Urbania, he trained with his fath ...

. The monastery was transformed into a seminary, active from the 19th century until the 1970s. The

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

on the left in gothic style, attributed to a young

Lorenzo Ghiberti Lorenzo Ghiberti (, , ; 1378 – 1 December 1455), born Lorenzo di Bartolo, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence, a key figure in the Early Renaissance, best known as the creator of two sets of bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery ...

, was walled at the end of the 19th century. Among the works inside the church are:Gruppo Zaffiro
website, pamphlet on the church of San Francesco. *''Assumption of the Virgin'', in first altar on right by Domenico Peruzzini *''Madonna in Glory with Saints'', in apse by

*''Nativity'' (1586) in first altar on left also by Picchi *''Crucifixion'' in second altar on left by Agostino Apolloni *''Adoration by Magi'' (1558) in left transept by Giustino Episcopio *Church organ (1762) by Arcangelo Feligiotti

References

Roman Catholic churches in Urbania Baroque architecture in Urbania Francesco Urbania {{Italy-RC-church-stub