San Francesco al Prato (1253)
According to tradition, St Francis established the first Franciscan community of Perugia in 1212, on a site that later became the nunnery of San Francesco delle Donne. Whatever is the precise truth of this claim, it is certainly true that a Franciscan convent was established there early in the 13th century. This site was some way outside the city walls, and the friars soon made plans to move to a more central location.
The new site that they chose was near to the ancient (and now destroyed) church of Santa Susanna, the church that gave its name to this rione (district) of Perugia. The date at which they began their new church and convent is sometimes given as 1230, but modern scholarship suggests that this is too early. What is clear is that the Oddi family gave them some property in Campo d’ Orto (now Piazza di San Francesco - see Walk III) in 1246, and that Pope Innocent IV issued three bulls from Lyon in 1248 that were related to the new foundation. These were directed respectively to:
the Bishop of Perugia, who might have been unenthusiastic at the prospect of having a Franciscan church so close to the Duomo;
the people of Perugia, who were exhorted to give alms for a new church; and
the monks of Fonte Avellana, who owned the adjoining church of San Matteo (see Walk III).
In 1253, the Franciscans sold their original convent to a community of Benedictine nuns (hence that church’s later appellation “San Francesco delle Donne”), and it seems likely that this was the point at which they finally moved to Campo d’ Orto. They probably bought San Matteo at this time for their own use. A persistent tradition has Pope Innocent IV laying the foundation stone of the new church: if this is correct, it probably occurred in ca. 1253.
The church must have been in use by 1256, the year in which Pope Alexander IV issued indulgences to those worshipping there on the feast days of St Francis and two other Franciscan saints, St Clare and St Antony of Padua. This must have helped to finance an impressive series of artistic commissions, many of which were similarly inspired by developments at San Francesco, Assisi.
The Blessed Giles was buried here in 1262: his sarcophagus was probably placed in the left transept while the rest of the church was still in construction. Public access to the tomb would have been from an external door leading directly into the left transept. The sarcophagus (which is described in the page on the Oratorio di San Bernardino, its current location) was probably free-standing and raised on columns so that pilgrims and those seeking miraculous cures could clamber under and around it. It seems to have constituted an important cult site.
14th Century
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| Convent of San Francesco al Prato and the medieval city wall from Viale Orazio Antinori |
The church and its convent became important to both the city and to the Franciscan Order. For example:
In 1300, the leading citizens of Perugia assembled in the cloister of the convent to take the momentous decision to build a new Duomo.
The convent hosted the a number of General Chapters of the Franciscan Order, including that of 1322 during which it issued the statement on the absolute poverty of Christ that led to its excommunication by Pope John XXII.
Unfortunately, the church suffered from structural problems from its inception, mainly because of the presence of underground streams. Four chapels were built in the late 14th century, one at each of the external angles of the crossing, probably in an attempt to stabilise the structure. One of these (between the right transept and the right wall of the nave) originally belonged to the Michelotti family, and Biordo Michelotti was probably buried in it after his murder in 1398.
15th Century
In 1421, Braccio Fortebracci consulted the leading architects of the day in order to solve the structural problems at San Francesco. As a result, two huge arched buttresses were built on the right side of the church. Braccio met his death in 1424 outside Aquila in Southern Italy, during the interminable war for the succession to the crown of Naples. His enemy, Pope Martin V, who then took control of Perugia, tried to deny him burial on consecrated ground, but his body was quietly brought home in 1432 and interred with honour at San Francesco. [Where is the monument now?]
As noted above, the originally free-standing monument to Blessed Giles constituted an important cult site in the left transept. In 1439, Bishop Giovanni Baglioni put in hand a renovation of the shrine, probably as part of a conscious revival of the cult.
San Francesco received a further boost in 1450 following the canonisation of Franciscan St Bernardino of Siena, an event of particular importance to the city. The Perugian Fra Angelo del Toscana, who had joined the convent earlier in the century and had risen to become Minister General in 1450, was prominent among those promoting the new cult in the city:
In 1445, shortly after the death of Bernardino and before his canonisation, Fra Angelo hosted another important Spiritual Franciscan, Blessed James of the Marche, who prompted the formation of the Confraternita dei Santi Girolamo, Francesco e Bernardino. The confraternity was given the perpetual us of an oratory in the convent (the Oratorio dei SS Girolamo, Francesco e Bernardino) in 1450.
In 1451, he commissioned the Oratorio di San Bernardino on land adjacent to the church.
In 1453, he hosted the annual meeting of the General Chapter of the Order, during which he officiated at a celebration of the feast of St Bernardino attended by the delegates and by the leading citizens of Perugia.
Two processional banners painted in (respectively) 1464 and 1465 contain important details of the appearance of the church at this time:
The Gonfalone di San Francesco (left), which was originally in the Cappella del Gonfalone (see below), contains an interesting view of the the apse of San Francesco and its campanile, with a group of flagellants to the left that probably belonged to the Oratorio di San Francesco.
The Gonfalone di San Bernardino (right) shows part of the facade of San Francesco (which was still incomplete), the left side of the church, the left transept and the campanile. This image provided important evidence for the original appearance of its facade that facilitated its restoration in 1926.
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| Gonfalone di San Francesco al Prato (1464) (detail) by Benedetto Bonfigli Oratorio di San Bernardino | Gonfalone di San Bernardino (1465) (detail) by Benedetto Bonfigli Galleria Nazionale (Room 14) |
Cappella del Gonfalone (1464)
The Commune commissioned the Gonfalone di San Francesco mentioned above during an outbreak of plague in 1464. It became the centre of a cult when it appeared to have miraculous powers that brought an end to the outbreak. The Commune sent ambassadors to the newly elected Pope Paul II to seek (among other things) the granting of an indulgence for those attending further processions of the banner during outbreaks of disease.
The Franciscans were closely associated with these moves, following which they instituted a lay confraternity to officiate at the cult. This confraternity built a chapel to house the banner against the facade of San Francesco, which was known as the Cappella del Gonfalone or alternatively as the Cappella di Santa Maria della Pace.
The banner (which is described in the page on the Oratorio di San Bernardino, its current location) was again used in processions during outbreaks of plague in 1476, 1486, 1527, 1539 and 1587. The chapel was remodelled in the Baroque style in 1646, closed in 1909 and demolished in in 1926 to facilitate the rebuilding of the facade (see below).
16th and Early 17th Centuries
The early 16th century was a period of splendour for the church, in which it attracted the patronage of the major families of Perugia. Pope Julius II, who made a triumphant entry into Perugia in 1506 to receive the surrender of the city from Gianpaolo Baglioni, celebrated Mass here, and seems to have commissioned some works of restoration in the convent.
The respective political factions sought to establish their ascendancy through (among other things) artistic commissions in the church:
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| Cappella Oddi between the left transept and the left wall of the church |
Guido degli Oddi acquired the double chapel at the external angle between the left transept and the left wall of the nave in 1461, from which point it was known as the Cappella degli Oddi. This was the original location of Raphael's Pala Oddi (ca. 1503).
Atlanta Baglioni acquired the Cappella di San Matteo opposite (which had originally belonged to the Michelotti family) in 1499 and was buried there in 1509. This was the original location of Raphael's Pala Baglioni (1507).
Unfortunately, this felicitous period was soon to end. The church suffered serious damage during flooding in the early 1520s, and was
left in a poor state of repair until 1527, when funds were finally
raised for repairs. The high altar was moved in ca. 1532 to a new location closer to the apse and re-consecrated in 1536.
The precarious stability of the church was further undermined by earthquakes in 1640, 1695 and 1701, and it finally collapsed, along with it campanile, in 1737.
Later History
The church and its campanile was rebuilt by Pietro Caratolli in 1740-8. The side walls were reduced in height, the original vaulted roof was replaced by a wooden ceiling, and a cupola was built over the crossing. The sacristy was rebuilt in 1751. The sarcophagus of the Blessed Giles survived these upheavals, but it seems to have been separated from the relics in 1781, at which point both began a series of moves around the city. They were reunited in the Oratorio di San Bernardino in 1946.
The Franciscans were expelled and their church was deconsecrated in ca. 1860, after which it soon fell into a ruinous state. The works of art that were removed at this time are described on the page "Art Works Removed from San Francesco al Prato". Photographs taken in the late 19th century show the dilapidated church with its facade still buttressed by the Cappella del Gonfalone. At this point there were two portals in the left wall: the one that still survives and another in the bay to the right of it that was probably the main entrance to the church.
Francesco Moretti, whose stained glass laboratory was housed in the ex-convent from 1874 until 1895 (when it moved to what is now Casa Moretti-Caselli), made an important drawing of original appearance of the facade, basing it on an examination of what then survived and also on the depiction of the church on the Gonfalone di San Bernardino mentioned above. This drawing informed the restoration that was carried out in 1926 (as one of the events that marked the 500th anniversary of the death of St Francis).
Ugo Tarchi began the restoration of the Cappella degli Oddi in 1921. The Gonfalone di San Bernardino was moved to this chapel in 1923, an entrance to it from the piazza was opened and it was re-opened for religious services in 1929.
- The Cappella del Gonfalone was demolished to facilitate the 1926 restoration of the facade.
The Franciscans returned to San Francesco in 1932, and adapted the sacristy of the church for their religious services. However, they lacked the means to restore the church, which continued to deteriorate. The Commune re-acquired it in 1968 and finally stabilised it in 1977-80. From this point, the church was used as an auditorium and the convent housed the Museo di Belle Arti.
Unfortunately, both were badly damaged by the earthquake of 1997. The facade has recently re-emerged from the scaffolding, but the interior of the church has been reduced to a shell that is being converted to form an auditorium. The museum remains closed, although a few of its exhibits are housed temporarily in Palazzo della Penna.
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| Left side of the church, Cappella degli Oddi and the Oratorio di San Bernardino (August 2006) | Interior of the church (August 2006) |
Return to Walk III.