Description
The Church of San Francesco is the Gothic church of Mantua's Franciscans, on Piazza San Francesco d'Assisi: almost entirely destroyed by bombs in 1944 and rebuilt, it still holds the chapel that for over a century was the mausoleum of the first Gonzagas.
Of the 14th-century church, what survived is the 16th-century portico in front of the entrance, the Lombard Gothic façade with its three spires, portal, rose window and two long windows trimmed with terracotta, and the bell tower.
Inside, three aisles rest on brick columns joined by pointed arches. In the atrium of the first chapel, large parts of a fresco by Stefano da Verona of St Francis receiving the stigmata survive; on the wall of the left aisle, part of a 14th-century Last Judgement.
The last chapel of the right aisle is the Gonzaga Chapel, dedicated to St Louis of Toulouse and commissioned by the Gonzagas in 1369 as the family tomb. It survived the war almost by a miracle, and with it the 14th-century frescoes of the saint's life, attributed to Serafino de' Serafini.
In one scene the saint is consecrated bishop by Pope Boniface VIII; in the scene of his death, the figure in the white cloak is thought to be Luigi I Gonzaga, the founder of the dynasty.
Buried here, until 1484, were Guido and Francesco I Gonzaga, Margherita Malatesta, the first marquis Gianfrancesco and other members of the family. Their monuments, carved by the dalle Masegne and Bonino da Campione among others, have disappeared; a few fragments are in the Palazzo Ducale.
According to tradition, St Francis himself founded Mantua's first Franciscan house here; the friars are documented from 1232, the church was built in 1304 and consecrated in 1459 in the presence of Pope Pius II.
In 1526 the condottiero Giovanni dalle Bande Nere was buried here in full armour, later moved to the Medici Chapels in Florence. The Austrians suppressed the church and in 1811 turned it into an arsenal: that is why it was a target for the bombers.
Of the 14th-century church, what survived is the 16th-century portico in front of the entrance, the Lombard Gothic façade with its three spires, portal, rose window and two long windows trimmed with terracotta, and the bell tower.
Inside, three aisles rest on brick columns joined by pointed arches. In the atrium of the first chapel, large parts of a fresco by Stefano da Verona of St Francis receiving the stigmata survive; on the wall of the left aisle, part of a 14th-century Last Judgement.
The last chapel of the right aisle is the Gonzaga Chapel, dedicated to St Louis of Toulouse and commissioned by the Gonzagas in 1369 as the family tomb. It survived the war almost by a miracle, and with it the 14th-century frescoes of the saint's life, attributed to Serafino de' Serafini.
In one scene the saint is consecrated bishop by Pope Boniface VIII; in the scene of his death, the figure in the white cloak is thought to be Luigi I Gonzaga, the founder of the dynasty.
Buried here, until 1484, were Guido and Francesco I Gonzaga, Margherita Malatesta, the first marquis Gianfrancesco and other members of the family. Their monuments, carved by the dalle Masegne and Bonino da Campione among others, have disappeared; a few fragments are in the Palazzo Ducale.
According to tradition, St Francis himself founded Mantua's first Franciscan house here; the friars are documented from 1232, the church was built in 1304 and consecrated in 1459 in the presence of Pope Pius II.
In 1526 the condottiero Giovanni dalle Bande Nere was buried here in full armour, later moved to the Medici Chapels in Florence. The Austrians suppressed the church and in 1811 turned it into an arsenal: that is why it was a target for the bombers.