Santa Maria delle Grazie is a Roman Catholic church or oratory located on via San Francesco in

Pesaro Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, ...

, 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.

History

The church was commissioned by the Servite order. By 1233 they occupied a convent adjacent to this church. The site was ceded to the

Franciscan order , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

, who built the church we see today, and consecrated and dedicated it to St Francis (San Francesco) in 1359. The elaborate marble portal was built between 1356 and 1373. During the siege of the city in 1503, the bell-tower was destroyed. In the 1600s, the church underwent reconstruction with the present brick facade. In 1922, the church changed from San Francesco to become the Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie, when the venerated image of Vergine delle Grazie, was moved here from the Servite church. The church has funeral monument for the Beata

Michelina Metelli Michelina of Pesaro, (1300 – 1356) was an Italian Roman Catholic Franciscan tertiary who was later beatified. Biography Michelina Metelli was born in Farneto, Pesaro, Italy, to a wealthy Italian family. She married into the noble Malatesta ...

(died 1356), commissioned by Pandolfo II Malatesta after he was rescued from a shipwreck. It has a funeral monument for Paola Orsini, the second wife of Pandolfo II Malatesta, who died in 1371. The church was once rich with 13th and 14th-century frescoes. The church once held altarpieces by Timoteo Viti, Federico Barocci, and

Giovanni Giacomo Pandolfi Giovanni Giacomo Pandolfi (1567–1636) was an Italian painter, who was born and lived in Pesaro. Biography He was likely the son of the painter Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi, also from Pesaro, who had married the sister of the painter Girolamo Dan ...

.Catalogo delle pitture che si conservano nelle chiese di Pesaro
Antonio Becci, Casa Gavelli, Pesaro, 1783, page 15.

References

Roman Catholic churches in Pesaro Renaissance architecture in le Marche 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Buildings and structures completed in 1359 {{Italy-RC-church-stub