Chiesa di San Francesco

The Church of San Francesco in Amelia combines a Gothic travertine facade with a Baroque interior and funerary monuments of the Geraldini family.

Why it matters

The church preserves several centuries of Franciscan and civic history. Its sculpted tombs, medieval furnishings and later decorative phases make it an important record of Amelia's religious patronage.

What to notice

The facade, built between 1401 and 1406, has a rose window and marble portal. Inside, the raised presbytery and dome contrast with the single nave. The Geraldini chapel contains the 1477 tomb of Matteo and Elisabetta Geraldini, with praying angels attributed to Agostino di Duccio. A Giottesque Crucifixion survives near the entrance, and the wooden choir dates to 1411.

Context and history

Tradition associates Francis of Assisi with Amelia in 1213. A new church was built in 1287 and completed by 1291, initially dedicated to Saints Philip and James. The building later became the burial church of the Geraldini family. Baroque remodelling in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries altered the interior. The adjacent convent was suppressed after Italian unification and later restored as a cultural complex.