Church of San Francesco

Chiesa e Chiostro di San Francesco dai tetti (A. Matteucci)

FERDINANDUS MAGNUS DUX ETR.III AN. SAL. M.D.CIII: the façade bears the name of Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici, who commissioned the work, and the year of construction, but the history of this building began in 1233, with a first small oratory dedicated to the saint of Assisi. Starting from 1261, work began on the current church, which transformed it into one of the largest Franciscan monasteries in Italy. With large foundations of stone material from Monte Pisano supporting the mighty brick structure, this colossus almost 100 meters long is the work of architect Giovanni di Simone, the author of the Monumental Campo Santo in Piazza dei Miracoli and saviour of the Leaning Tower thanks to a project to correct the first inclination. His mastery was manifested in the construction of towers and the church bell tower is a beautiful example of his skills: suspended, resting only on two perimeter walls in which the architect inserted two corbels to support a well of concentric bricks lightened by arches. Its slender figure, marked by a cell opened by mullioned windows and a cuspidal roof, is visible from a great distance. The façade is in white marble and marks the end of the work of the first fourteenth-century intervention, interrupted due to the Pisan economic crisis after the plague and the Florentine conquest of the city. Inside, the perspective of the high walls is marked by large windows designed by Ignazio Pellegrini in 1757, and by the Gothic windows of the apse chapels, introduced by a large arch that divides the nave from the transept like a proscenium, revealing the marble dossal of the altar (c. 1370) made by Tommaso Pisano, son of the great Andrea.

History in a nutshell: built on a pre-existing church in 1261, its works continued until the 15th century, when the whole church was turned into a barrack and later became the Collegio della Sapienza (College of Wisdom), founded by Cosimo I de’ Medici in 1543. It was the seat of the Inquisition court in 1575 and in 1787 was donated to the Augustinians until the Napoleonic desecration. In this period, the convent became a hospital, and later a depot for artillery wagons. Only in 1901 was it returned to the Franciscans and reopened for worship.

The glass windows: Near the left transept, in front of the apse chapels, at the top there is a large mullioned window (1929), painted by Francesco Mossmeyer in the style of the originals, which depicts the face of Benito Mussolini. Not quite a Franciscan model, is linked to the Fascist period. Both wings of the transept are decorated with 5 stained glass windows, painted on the original model by Francesco Mossmeyer in 1926, representing the stories of San Francesco. There are 7 apses, repainted between 1903 and 1930 by the atelier of Ulisse de Matteis and by Mossmeyer, but that of the main chapel was commissioned in 1341.