The church of San Francesco is an ancient church

Volterra Volterra (; Latin: ''Volaterrae'') is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods. History Volter ...

in the

province of Pisa The province of Pisa ( it, provincia di Pisa) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Tuscany region of central Italy. Its capital is the city of Pisa. With an area of and a total population of 421,642 (), it is the second most populous and fif ...

. The plain stone church was built in the 13th century for a community of

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 ...

friars. The interior has marble monuments to members of the aristocratic family of Counts

Guidi Guidi is an Italian surname shared by several notable people: * Alessandro Pier Guidi (born 1983), racing driver from Italy * Angela Maria Guidi Cingolani (1896–1991), Italian politician * Antonio Guidi (1927–2013), Italian actor and voice act ...

, who were patrons of the order. The monument to bishop Guidi (1588) was designed by Felice Palma. Among the paintings in the altars flanking the nave is a ''Concession'' (1585) by

Giovanni Battista Naldini Giovanni Battista Naldini (1535–1591) was an Italian painter in a late-Mannerist style, active in Florence and Rome. Biography His first apprenticeship (1549–1557) was in the studio of Jacopo Pontormo. He went from Rome for a number of mon ...

, a ''Nativity'' (1591) by

Giovanni Balducci Giovanni Balducci, called Il Cosci after his maternal uncle, (c. 1560 — after 1630) was an Italian mannerist painter. Biography Born in Florence, Balducci was trained by Giovanni Battista Naldini. Under the guidance and supervision of Vasar ...

, a ''Crucifixion'' attributed to Bartolomeo Neroni, and a ''Crucifixion'' (1602) painted by

Cosimo Daddi Cosimo Daddi (before 1575–1630), was a late Renaissance painter active mainly around Volterra and Florence. In 1591–94, he participated in the fresco decoration (the deeds of Godefroy de Bouillon) of the Villa Petraia for the Medici The H ...

. The paintings of the ''Circumcision of Christ'' (1490-91) by Luca SignorelliThe circumcision is now in The

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. and the stunning masterpiece of the ''Deposition'' (1521) by Rosso Fiorentino are no longer here, the church for which they were painted; the former is in the

, while the latter has been moved to the Pinacoteca Civica of Volterrra. The baptismal font was sculpted by Giovanni Battista Bava in 1552.

Chapel of the Daily Cross (Cappella della Croce di Giorno)

This chapel, originally built (1315) by architect Mone Todirigi for a confraternity associated with the church, was decorated in 1410 with frescos by

Cenni di Francesco Cenni di Francesco di ser Cenni was an Italian Gothic painter active in Florence between 1369/1370 and 1415. His only signed work is the fresco of the True Cross at the Cappella della Croce di Giorno at the church of San Francesco in Volterra, ...

and Jacopo da Firenze with scenes from the ''Legends of the True Cross''. These frescoes were inspired by those of

Agnolo Gaddi Agnolo Gaddi (c.1350–1396) was an Italian painter. He was born and died in Florence, and was the son of the painter Taddeo Gaddi,who was himself the major pupil of the Florentine master Giotto. Agnolo was a painter and mosaicist, trained ...

in the Santa Croce of

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, and the ''Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine. Volterra san francesco 001.JPG, ''Capella della Croce di Giorno'' Volterra san francesco 006.JPG, ''Frescoes by Jacopo da Firenze of evangelists''

References

*''The information in this article is based on that in its Italian equivalent''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Francesco 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Roman Catholic churches in Volterra Gothic architecture in Tuscany