San Francesco di Prato

Monumental Church of St. Francis Chiesa di San Francesco (Prato) Conventus Sancti Francisci Prati Etrurie
San Francesco’s church.
Basic information
Location	Prato, Italy
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Country	Italy
Year consecrated	1508
Website	http://www.diocesiprato.it/sanfrancesco
Architectural description
Architectural type	Church
Architectural style	Romanesque, Gothic
Groundbreaking	1281
Completed	1331
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

San Francesco is a church in Prato, Tuscany, central Italy. San Francesco’s church, in the homonym square (XII–XIV sec.), it is located in the nucleus of the Oldest City of Prato and an Important Place of Catholic worship and one of the first Franciscan Churches with his big convent built on the ground that was donated by the municipality to the friars minor only eight days after the canonization of the saint, in 1228.

The edifice was begun in 1281, next to an oratory of the Franciscan convent, which had been built in 1228. It was finished in 1331, the first building 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. The 18th-century bell-tower was designed by Antonio Benini (1799-1801).

The large interior was restored to a neo-medieval state in 1902–04.

Among the arworks are the funerary monument of Geminiano Inghirami (c. 1460), attributed to Pasquino da Montepulciano (and stylistically similar to Antonio Rossellino), who also executed the small cyborium on the presbytery wall.

Next to a Renaissance pulpit in pietra serena is a 15th-century panel with Christ's Monogram, which is traditionally considered to have been brought to Prato by San Bernardino; 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 (work of Niccolò di Pietro Lamberti, 1411–12) portrays him within an elaborated Gothic tabernacle.