San Francesco, Volterra

San Francesco
Basic information
Location	Volterra, Italy
Geographic coordinates	43°24′16″N 10°51′22″E / 43.40442°N 10.85605°ECoordinates: 43°24′16″N 10°51′22″E / 43.40442°N 10.85605°E
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Province	Pisa
Architectural description
Architectural type	Church
Architectural style	Gothic
Groundbreaking	13th century

San Francesco

The church of San Francesco is an ancient church Volterra in the province of Pisa.

The plain stone church was built in the 13th century for a community of Franciscan monks. The interior has marble monuments to members of the aristocratic family of Counts Guidi, who were patrons of the order. The monument to bishop Guidi (1588) was designed by Felice Palma. Among the paintings in the altars flanking the nave is a Concession (1585) by Giovanni Battista Naldini, a Nativity (1591) by Giovanni Balducci, a Crucifixion attributed to Bartolomeo Neroni, and a Crucifixion (1602) painted by Cosimo Daddi. The paintings of the Circumcision of Christ (1490-91) by Luca Signorelli^[1] and the stunning masterpiece of the Deposition (1521) by Rosso Fiorentino are no longer here, the church for which they were painted; the former is in the National Gallery of London, while the latter has been moved to the Pinacoteca Civica of Volterrra. The baptismal font was sculpted by Giovanni Battista Bava in 1552.

Chapel of the Daily Cross (Cappella della Croce di Giorno)

This chapel, originally built (1315) by architect Mone Todirigi for a confraternity associated with the church, was decorated in 1410 with frescos by Cenni di Francesco and Jacopo da Firenze with scenes from the Legends of the True Cross. These frescoes were inspired by those of Agnolo Gaddi in the Santa Croce of Florence, and the Golden Legend of Jacopo da Varagine.

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  Capella della Croce di Giorno

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  Frescoes by Jacopo da Firenze of evangelists

References

1. The circumcision is now in The National Gallery of London.

• The information in this article is based on that in its Italian equivalent.