San Francesco is a former

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

-style

Roman-Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

church and monastery located in Piazza San Francesco in central

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one o ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

, Italy. Since its restoration, it is home to

IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca ( it, Scuola IMT Alti Studi Lucca) is a public research institution and a graduate school located in Lucca, Italy. It was founded in 2005 under the name of IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, where the ac ...

, a superior graduate school. Lucca, san francesco 04 oratorio

History

Members of 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 = , ...

were present since 1228, but the church as we see it dates from the 14th century. The church, built out of

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

, has an aisle-less with a

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...

ed roof. It was completed in the early 15th century with the inclusion of three apsidal chapels. The

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

, which has two arches either side of the doorway, adopted a coat of white

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, which remained incomplete, and was completed only in the 20th century. The care taken with the interior design is in parallel with the construction of the complex, which took from the 14th century to the 17th century. Among the tomb monuments in the interior is the monument to Bishop

Giovanni Guidiccioni Giovanni Guidiccioni (1480 in Lucca – 1541 in Macerata) was an Italian poet and a Catholic bishop of Fossombrone. Biography Born at Lucca in 1480, Guidiccioni was a nephew of Bartolomeo Guidiccioni and eventually occupied a high position, being ...

and a lapidary monument to the Condottiero

Castruccio Castracani Castruccio Castracani degli Antelminelli (; 1281 – 3 September 1328) was an Italian ''condottiero'' and duke of Lucca. Biography Castruccio was born in Lucca, a member of the noble family of Antelminelli, of the Ghibelline party. In 1300 he w ...

. To the right of the main altar is the monument to

Ugolino Visconti Ugolino Visconti (died 1296), better known as Nino, was the Giudice of Gallura from 1275 or 1276 to his death. He was a son of Giovanni Visconti and grandson of Ugolino della Gherardesca. He was the first husband of Beatrice d'Este, daughter of ...

, Governor of Pisa, judge of

Gallura Gallura ( sdn, Gaddura or ; sc, Caddura ) is a region in North-Eastern Sardinia, Italy. The name ''Gallùra'' is allegedly supposed to mean "stony area". Geography Gallùra has a surface of and it is situated between 40°55'20"64 latitude ...

in Corsica. He is encountered by his friend Dante Alighieri in Purgatory, awaiting entry to heaven. The church also contains the tombs of Francesco Geminiani and

Luigi Boccherini Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini (, also , ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and ''galante'' style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major European ...

. Among the paintings is a ''Noli me Tangere'' by

Domenico Passignano Domenico Passignano (1559 – 17 May 1638), born Domenico Cresti or Crespi, was an Italian painter of a late-Renaissance or Counter-''Maniera'' (Counter-Mannerism) style that emerged in Florence towards the end of the 16th century. Biography ...

and a ''Nativity'' by

Federico Zuccari Federico Zuccaro, also known as Federico Zuccari (c. 1540/1541August 6, 1609), was an Italian Mannerist painter and architect, active both in Italy and abroad. Biography Zuccaro was born at Sant'Angelo in Vado, near Urbino (Marche). His docum ...

.The Christian Travelers Guide to Italy
by David Bershad, Carolina Mangone, Irving Hexham, page 89. The panel of ''Bishop Saint and Saint Francis of Assisi'' by Francesco di Andrea Anguilla was part of a

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek language, Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) t ...

commissioned for the convent; it is now in the collection of the

Birmingham Museum of Art The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. It has one of the most extensive collections of artwork in the Southeastern United States, with more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts repres ...

References

External links

Page at toscana.it

{{DEFAULTSORT:Francesco Lucca Roman Catholic churches in Lucca Gothic architecture in Lucca

Francesco Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...

14th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Francesco Lucca