Facade of the Church of Saint Francis in Amelia with a central rose window and stone portal under a clear sky
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The Church and Convent of Saint Francis in Amelia

 A memory of Francis’s presence

According to tradition, Francis of Assisi is said to have visited Amelia in 1213; in memory of his stay, an initial Franciscan settlement arose outside the town centre, where today stands the Church of Santa Maria delle Cinque Fonti. With the election of Bonaventure of Bagnoregio as Minister of the Franciscan Order in 1257, it was decided to locate Franciscan convents within the city walls. Thus, in 1287, Friar Bartolomeo of Amelia founded, on a pre-existing site, a new Franciscan church dedicated to Saints Philip and James, along with an adjoining convent. The entire complex was later dedicated to Saint Francis. Work must certainly have been completed around 1291, since in that year Pope Nicholas IV granted a forty-day indulgence to the faithful who visited the church.

The current structure largely dates back to reconstruction work carried out in the 15th century. Between 1401 and 1406, Menuccio Menucci of Amelia, Giovanni di Nicola of Castel dell’Aquila, and Santo di Domenico di Carignoli from Todi built the beautiful façade of the building. In 1447, the masters Francesco and Guglielmo of Lombardy erected the bell tower, which still shows traces of its original masonry inside. Between the 16th and 17th centuries, the church was renovated to build the choir loft; the reconstruction of the windows in the apse and along the nave date from this period.

Major alterations were carried out between 1664 and 1767, when the interior was entirely transformed in Baroque style. This led to the near-total loss of the original painted decoration and the ancient trussed roof.

The most recent interventions date back to 1942, when the adjoining convent was converted into a boarding school.

 

A church that is a true palimpsest of eras and styles

Located near one of the ancient gates of the historic town of Amelia, the church surprises visitors with its layered style. The exterior still largely retains its Gothic appearance, especially along the side walls and in the apse area.

The façade, built in 1401 by local stonemasons, is made of travertine blocks. A dentil cornice divides it into two large sections: an upper one, featuring a finely worked double rose window at the center and a motif of lobed arches following the slope of the gabled roof; and a lower one, where the beautiful marble portal opens. The rose window and the portal originate from the medieval settlement that predated the Franciscan rebuilding and were incorporated into the “new” Franciscan structure.

The current bell tower dates to 1932: it was rebuilt after the collapse of the previous one due to an earthquake, based on a design by engineer Gioacchino Santori.

The interior consists of a single nave with a barrel vault, a raised presbytery surmounted by a dome, and three terminal apses. Completely renovated in 1767, it has a distinctly Baroque appearance. The only reminder of the earlier construction is the small room leading to the choir loft, to the left of the entrance door. Fifteenth-century frescoes once adorned the counter-façade, arranged in three registers: some figures survive in the middle and lower registers, including a fine Crucifixion in the style of the Giotto school.

Baroque nave of the Church of Saint Francis in Amelia, with frescoed altar, decorated dome, statues, and wooden pews

Interior of the Church of Saint Francis in Amelia

Decorated dome of the Church of Saint Francis in Amelia with floral motifs, Baroque stuccoes, and a bright central oculus

Dome of the Church of Saint Francis in Amelia

Particularly interesting, on the right side, is the Chapel of Saint Anthony of Padua, a work by the Lombard artist Antonio Pini, which has retained its original 15th-century appearance. Commissioned by Bishop Giovanni Geraldini in 1476 as a family burial place, it houses, among other works, a true Renaissance masterpiece: the funerary monument of Matteo and Elisabetta Geraldini, created by Agostino di Duccio (1477). The Florentine sculptor’s mastery is especially evident in the beautiful figures of praying angels surrounding Saint Anthony. Also elegant are the tombs of Camillo (1480) and Belisario (1482) Geraldini. The tomb of Geronimo Geraldini (1481), who served as podestà of Florence between 1473 and 1474, has been attributed to the workshop of the sculptor Andrea Bregno, while the funerary monument of Angelo Geraldini has been linked to Luigi Capponi, Bregno’s most talented pupil. The Geraldini were a highly prominent family; one of its members, Alessandro, was confessor to Queen Isabella of Aragon and convinced her to finance Christopher Columbus’s expedition. He later became the first bishop of the New World in Santo Domingo, where he died in 1524.

Also noteworthy are the wooden choir, dated 1411, and the fine painted cycle in the presbytery, belonging to the Baroque phase of the church and attributed to the Perugian painter Vincenzo Monotti (1734–1792).

 

A Franciscan convent full of… surprises

The Convent of Saint Francis dates back to 1287, when Friar Bartolomeo of Amelia decided to found a complex dedicated to the Poor Man of Assisi within the city walls.

The convent was an important center for the spiritual and religious life of Amelia until 1861, when it was confiscated by the state and converted into a school. The educational institute was dedicated to Flavio Boccarini, secretary to Pope Gregory XIII, who in the 16th century had established a fund for the education of young people from Amelia in conditions of economic hardship. In the 1930s, the Boccarini College was relocated, and the structures of the former Franciscan convent were left unused and abandoned.

In 2001, the complex was completely restored and became a true cultural hub for the Municipality of Amelia. Today they house the Civic Archaeological Museum, the “Edilberto Rosa” Art Gallery, the “Luciano Lama” Municipal Library, the Municipal Archives, a conference hall, and other exhibition spaces.

From the original convent structure the beautiful 16th-century cloister remains. It was commissioned by friar Egidio Delfini of Amelia, elected General of the Franciscan Order in 1500, as recorded in the inscription on the entrance portal. It features two levels of arcades supported by columns with finely decorated capitals, while the inner quadrangle is adorned with frescoed lunettes.

The Municipal Art Gallery houses fine canvases and panel paintings from churches in the area, including a masterpiece by the Renaissance painter Pier Matteo d’Amelia (c. 1445/1448–1508): the panel depicting Saint Anthony Abbot (c. 1475).

The archaeological collection, spread over three floors, displays artifacts and stone inscriptions representing the entire historical timeline of Amelia. It also preserves an object of exceptional artistic value: the statue of Germanicus (1st century AD), an extraordinary bronze work slightly larger than life-size, depicting the young Roman general wearing rich armor, holding a spear in his left hand and raising his right hand as if addressing his soldiers. It is one of the best-preserved Roman statues in Italy. Absolutely not to be missed!

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