Chiesa di San Francesco d'Assisi

Gerace's Church of San Francesco d'Assisi preserves a Gothic nave, a richly carved triple portal and a baroque altar within the remains of a Franciscan convent. It stands in Piazza delle Tre Chiese beside the chapel of Santa Maria de Jesu.

Why it matters

The church belonged to a convent of Friars Minor founded in the early thirteenth century. Its Gothic architecture is unusual in a town more often associated with Byzantine and Norman monuments, while later baroque additions record the evolving life of the Franciscan complex.

What to notice

The triple-arched portal, dated to the 1330s, is decorated with geometric and vegetal forms. Inside, the single nave leads to an inlaid polychrome-marble altar and a triumphal arch completed in 1664 by the Gerace friar Bonaventura Perna. Sarcophagi of the Ruffo family line the church. Outside, the convent's well and part of its cloister survive.

Context and history

The church rose over an earlier Romanesque building. In 1806, Giuseppe Bonaparte decreed the suppression of religious orders, and the friars left the convent. The complex subsequently served secular uses, including as a prison, mill and oil press, before becoming residential. Restoration by the Soprintendenza alle Antichità della Calabria began in 1951, recovering the church's architectural character.