Key to Umbria: Amelia
 


San Francesco (1287) 


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San Francesco:  Main page     Geraldini Chapel

       

The Franciscans built a church here in 1287 on the site of an earlier parish church dedicated to SS Filippo e Giacomo.   In 1291, Pope Nicholas IV issued indulgences to those visiting the church on the feast of St Francis, presumably to finance its decoration.  

The church and convent enjoyed particular prestige in 1500-6, when Brother Egidio Delfini of Amelia was Minster General of the Franciscans.  The cloister of what is now Collegio Boccarini, which is entered by the portal to the left of the facade, dates to this period.

Exterior

The façade was built in 1401-6 and contains a fine Gothic portal and rose window.  The campanile (1447) collapsed in an earthquake in 1915 and was rebuilt as a faithful copy in 1932.





Frescoes (14th century)

     

The interior was extensively remodelled in 1664, when the nave was shortened, leaving a space between the outer and inner doors.  These frescoes in the space on the left between the outer and inner doors, which include a Crucifixion (illustrated here), give an idea of what the rest of the church was like before its later transformation.

Interior


The Baroque decoration was completed in 1767.  Despite this transformation, the apse retains its Gothic imprint. 

Cappella Geraldini, the funerary chapel of the Geraldini family, is the 2nd on the right.

Birth of the Virgin (1612)

This panel on the 1st altar on the right, which is signed by Rutilio Spolti and dated by inscription, was restored in 2004.






Art from the Church

Visitation (17th century)

This panel in the diocesan art collection in the Duomo, which came from San Francesco, is attributed to Bartolomeo Barbiani.  [Previously in the right transept of the Duomo: where is it now?]


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