San Francesco is a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...

church in

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. It was erected in c. 1228-1255 and later enlarged in the 14th-15th centuries, the original Romanesque edifice being turned into the current large

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 ...

one.

Architecture

The basilica is on the Egyptian Cross plan, with a nave covered by spans and a transept, according to type favoured by the Mendicant Orders, which needed spaces capable to house large crowds of faithful. The current interior looks rather sober after a fire in 1655 and the restoration of 1885–1892, when many of the Baroque altars were demolished (some of the paintings has been however returned in recent times). The neo-Gothic façade, flanked by the 1763 campanile, dates to the early 20th century. The medieval marble decoration and the 15th century portal were removed in that occasion. Toscana Siena9 tango7174

Interior

The counterfaçade houses the remains of two 14th century sepulchres, as well as two large fragmentary frescoes from the city gates of Porta Romana and Porta Pispini: a ''Coronation of the Virgin'' by

Sassetta ''For the village near Livorno, see Sassetta, Tuscany'' Stefano di Giovanni di Consolo, known as il Sassetta (ca.1392–1450 or 1451) was an Tuscan painter of the Renaissance, and a significant figure of the Sienese School.Judy Metro, ''Italia ...

and

Sano di Pietro Sano di Pietro or Ansano di Pietro di Mencio (1405–1481) was an Italian painter of the Sienese school of painting. He was active for about half a century during the Quattrocento period, and his contemporaries included Giovanni di Paolo and S ...

(1447–1450) and a ''Nativity'' by

Il Sodoma Il Sodoma (1477 – 14 February 1549) was the name given to the Italian Renaissance painter Giovanni Antonio Bazzi. Il Sodoma painted in a manner that superimposed the High Renaissance style of early 16th-century Rome onto the traditions of ...

(1531). Also visible is the ancient 15th century portal by

Francesco di Giorgio Martini Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439–1501) was an Italian architect, engineer, painter, sculptor, and writer. As a painter, he belonged to the Sienese School. He was considered a visionary architectural theorist—in Nikolaus Pevsner's terms ...

. Among the numerous artworks in the church, are ''Madonna with Child and Saints'' by

Jacopo Zucchi Jacopo Zucchi (c. 1541- c. 1590) was a Florentine painter of the Mannerist style, active in Florence and Rome. His training began in the studio of Giorgio Vasari, and he participated in decoration of the ''Studiolo'' and the ''Salone dei Cinque ...

, an expressive ''Crucifixion'' by

Pietro Lorenzetti Pietro Lorenzetti (; – 1348) or Pietro Laurati was an Italian painter, active between c. 1306 and 1345. Together with his younger brother Ambrogio, he introduced naturalism into Sienese art. In their artistry and experiments with three-dimen ...

and a fresco by his brother Ambrogio, a ''Prayer of St James'' by

Giuseppe Nicola Nasini Giuseppe Nicola Nasini (January 25, 1657– July 3, 1736) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active in Rome and Tuscany. Biography Born in Castel del Piano, now in the Province of Grosseto, Giuseppe was the son of the painter Frances ...

, a ''Martyrdom of St Martina'' by Pietro da Cortona and a ''Madonna with Child'' frescoed by Jacopo di Mino del Pellicciaio. In the right transept is a 14th-century marble of ''St Francis'', from the ancient façade.

External links

{{Authority control Churches completed in 1255 Francesco Gothic architecture in Siena Francesco Siena 13th-century establishments in the Republic of Siena 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy