San Francesco, Prato

Monumental Church of St. Francis Chiesa di San Francesco (Prato) Conventus Sancti Francisci Prati Etrurie
Religion
Affiliation	Franciscan
Rite	Roman Catholic
Year consecrated	October 1285
Location
Location	Prato, Tuscany, Italy
Architecture
Type	Church
Style	Romanesque, Gothic
Groundbreaking	12 July 1228
Completed	1280 (building) 1422 (façade)
Specifications
Length	65 metres (213 ft)
Width	20 metres (66 ft)
Width (nave)	15 metres (49 ft)
Height (max)	30 metres (98 ft)
Materials	bricks
Website
www.sanfrancescoprato.it

San Francesco is a Gothic-style, Roman Catholic church located at the square of the same name, in the historic center of Prato in Tuscany, Italy.

The Church of San Francesco is located in the nucleus of the oldest part of the city of Prato and one of the earliest Franciscan churches with a large convent built on ground donated by the municipality to the friars minor only eight days after the canonization of the saint, in 1228.^{Ref. missing.}

History and architecture

Construction of the monastery on land donated to the friars minor began a few days after the canonization of the saint in 1228; construction of the present church began in 1281, next to the oratory of the monastery. The church was finished in 1331, among the first buildings in Prato built in brickwork instead of stone. The façade is divided in bichrome stripes in alberese and serpentinite with a central portal, and ends with a 15th-century triangular tympanum with a stucco frieze by Andrea della Robbia, depicting the Stigmata of St Francis. ^[1] The 18th-century bell-tower was designed by Antonio Benini (1799-1801).

Interior

In 1902, a restoration of the interiors stripped some of the baroque decoration, aiming to leave only the earliest medieval decoration.

Condition of the church at the beginning of the restoration campaign in 1902

Interior of church after its reconstruction

Above the high altar is a 14th-century polychrome wooden Crucifix, donated by the merchant Francesco Datini (who was buried next to the altar). The latter's tomb in white marble by Niccolò di Pietro Lamberti (1411–12) portrays him within an elaborate Gothic tabernacle.

Next to a Renaissance pulpit in pietra serena is a 15th-century panel with Christ's monogram, which was traditionally added to churches visited by San Bernardino. The funerary monument of Geminiano Inghirami (c. 1460) is attributed to Pasquino da Montepulciano, who also executed the small ciborium on the presbytery wall. Pasquino's style recalls the work of Antonio Rossellino.

• 
  Niccolò di Pietro Lamberti, Tomb slab for Francesco Datini (1411)
• 
  Pulpit, after Benedetto da Maiano, ca. 1490–1510
• 
  The Christogram, attributed to Neri di Bicci
• 
  Eucharistic ciborium, ca. 1440

Regnadori Chapel

On the left of the presbytery, through a door below the choir, one enters the Capella Regnadori, protruding from the side of the church. Completed in the first half of the fourteenth century, the chapel has two bays with cross vaults. The wall to the left of the entrance is decorated with a cornice in pietra serena of the late renaissance, with an arch on fluted pilasters, with that, we can access to another chapel coeval (of employers Spighi) demolished in 1903. The wall in front of the entrance retains traces of seventeenth century frescoes; and on the semipilaster is carved the family crest of the Regnadori family (for which the chapel was named) . To the right is a lancet window and there while the neo-Gothic altar ciborium is the Same that adorn one time an altar. Side of the altar there are niches with statues: on the left a “Ecce Homo” century in colored wax.

The cloister

The cloister, dating from 1438–1440, features Ionic columns. It has several coat of arms from the 15th to 19th century, and several frescoes: a lunette with the Madonna and Child and a tabernacle with the Madonna Enthroned and Saints from the early 14th century.

Migliorati Chapel

Around 1400 the chapter (or Migliorati Chapel) was entirely frescoed by Niccolò Gerini in a style close to Giotto. The scenes include a ruined Cricifixion, the Stories of St. Matthew and Stories of St. Anthony (the latter also damaged) and, on the vault, the Evangelists.

• 
  The Migliorati Chapel
• 
  Frescoes with scenes of the life of St. Matthew

References

1. short introduction and photo on the communal website of Prato.

43°52′45″N11°05′49″E / 43.87917°N 11.09694°E / 43.87917; 11.09694