Exterior

The left wall of the church (in Via del Giochetto), which survives from the original construction, is buttressed by a series of integral brick pillars.  The truncated campanile (13th century) to the right, which still contains a bell that Pope Gregory IX gave to the nuns in 1235. 

The façade of pink and white marble probably dates to the restoration of 1449-51.  It is characterised by its distinctive rose window, which is made up of seven circles.  The double portals (ca. 1600) has busts in the lunettes of:

1. ✴the Virgin and St Clare (on the left) ;and
   

2. ✴SS Francis and Bernardino (on the right).
   

Interior

The interior is in the form of a single nave with a deep tribune that houses an organ on each side.  The high altar was moved forward in 1449 and a wall built behind it in order to enclose the nuns‘ choir. 

1. ✴The small door on the left of the altar wall leads to this choir, which the nuns called “chiesa nostra dentro" (our church within).  
   

2. ✴The nave of what was they called the “chiesa de fuore” (the outer church, which was used for public services), was vaulted in 1470-2.
   

The interior was the subject of remodelling in the Baroque style in 1602-7, during which the walls were covered with a series of important Mannerist frescoes that are sometimes attributed to Matteuccio Salvucci.  These include: 

  St Romuald defeating heresy     Resurrection of Christ              St Francis before the Sultan

       1st chapel on the left                     Counter-facade                         2nd chapel on the right

Tribune

The original high altar (14th century) still survives at the entrance to the tribune.  As noted above, this altar was moved forward in 1449-51 and a wall was built behind it to enclose a choir for the newly reformed nuns. 

Crucifixion with saints (late 15th century)

On 7th November 1491, the nuns made a payment of 9 florins to “Master Fiorenzo” (almost certainly Fiorenzo di Lorenzo) for “the manufacture of a crucifix” in the refectory.  The “Memoriale di Santa Maria di Monteluce” refers to the commission of a painting (presumably a fresco) for the refectory, which depicted the crucifixion with the Virgin and SS John the Evangelist, Francis and Clare.  It had been financed using money from the will of sister Eufrasia Alfani in the time that Sister Lucy of Foligno was abbess (i.e. before 20th October 1491). 

Crucifixion (late 15th century) 

The “Memoriale di Santa Maria di Monteluce” records that Sister Battista Alfani used money donated by her brother, Giovanbattista di Alfono Alfani and her nephew Alfano di Diamante Alfani to commission a large crucifix in ca. 1499, and that this replaced a smaller one.  Laura Teza (referenced below) suggests that:

1. ✴the smaller crucifix is the one that the nuns took to Sant’ Erminio, which is attributed to Giovanni Tedesco (see the page on works of art removed from the church); and
   

2. ✴the larger one is the crucifix that is now to the left of the tribune, which she attributes to Fiorenzo di Lorenzo.
   

She also suggests that the latter is the crucifix that was recorded in 1784 in the 3rd chapel on the right, in front of the fresco (early 17th century) the grieving Virgin and St John the Evangelist.   (These figures now flank an incongruously small wooden cross).  

Tabernacle (1487)

The tabernacle is crafted in of polychrome marble.  The lunette contains a figure of the Risen Christ.  Below, the baby Christ stands in a chalice held by angels, while two other angels flank the door to the receptacle in which the consecrated Host was kept.

Madonna and Child with St Lucy (14th century)