San Francesco (Mantua)
Coordinates: 45°09′35″N 10°47′16″E / 45.159766°N 10.787865°E
The Chiesa di San Francesco ( Italian, "Church of St. Francis" ) is a Roman Catholic church located in the historic center of Mantua, Italy, at Piazza San Francesco d'Assisi 5.
The church was founded by the Franciscan Order in 1304 but it was not consecrated until 1459, when Pope Pius II performed the ceremony. Suppressed in 1782, it was sacked in 1797, during the Napoleonic Wars, and turned into an arsenal in 1811. Still in military use when World War II began, it was devastated by bombardment during the war. The Cappella Gonzaga, with its frescoes depicting the life of St. Louis of Toulouse ( Italian: San Ludovico d'Angiò ), was saved and recently restored. These frescoes were supposed to have been painted by Serafino de' Serafini, an artist who was active in Modena during the 14th Century. The church was reconstructed in Romanesque and Gothic styles. Now visible are some of the original frescoes depicting St. Francis Receives the Stigmata by Stefano da Verona. Andrea Mantegna's work St. Bernardino of Siena between Two Angels was originally here but it is now at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy.
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