This pentagonal chapel off the right side of the narthex was built by Vagnuccio di Francesco before 1360, when he wrote the will in which he requested burial there. As noted below, Blasco Fernandez di Belvis, a nephew and close associate of Cardinal Albornoz (who became rector of the Papal States from 1362) seems to have been a patron of the chapel in 1354, and he was buried here after his assassination in 1367. The chapel passed to the Confraternita di San Francesco at a date before 1416, the date of a document in which a member of the confraternity expressed his wish to be buried here.
Tombs of Blasco and Garzia di Belvis (1373)
Blasco Fernandez di Belvis and his son Garcia were murdered in 1368 by Ghibellines from Spoleto. In 1373, his widow, Sancia de Cortinis gave the friars 300 florins for the restoration of the chapel and 100 florins for the tombs of her husband (on the right) and son.
Art from the Chapel
Scenes from the life of Sant’ Antonio Abate (ca. 1354)
According to Giorgio Vasari, a Duke of Spoleto commissioned these frescos from “Pace da Faenza”. (Fra Ludovico da Pietralunga reports their existence, but offers no other information about them). The duke in question was presumably Blasco Fernandez di Belvis (as set out in the page on San Francesco in the 14th century). The frescoes may have been associated with a payment made in 1354 to an artist called Pace, which is recorded in the archives of the Sacro Convento. This artist was probably Pace di Bartolo. The frescoes no longer survive.
Crucifixion with saints (ca. 1509)
Ugolino di Cristoforo, a member of the Confraternita di San Francesco, commissioned this altarpiece for the confraternity’s chapel. The altarpiece, which is attributed to
Tiberio d' Assisi, is now in the
Museo del Tesoro. It depicts the Crucifixion with SS Leonard, Anthony Abbot, Francis and Clare, with members of the confraternity kneeling below.