Chiesa di San Francesco - Citerna

Church of San Francesco - Citerna

The church of San Francesco di Citerna, located on Corso Garibaldi, was built, along with the adjoining Franciscan convent of Santa Elisabetta (now the seat of the City of Citerna), in the second half of the fifteenth century on the foundations of a pre-existing building visible in the lower part of the facade.

It has a Renaissance facade and a Latin cross plan. Along the nave there are four altars in sandstone and wood, painted and gilded, enriched with valuable paintings.

Above the first altar on the left is an Annunciation, an oil painting from the 17th century (by an anonymous artist); in the second there is a painting, from the same century, representing a Franciscan supporting St.

John, the Immaculata and the prophet Isaiah.

Above the first altar on the right is a panel of the Madonna with Saints and on the second altar a representation of St. Anthony of Padua (the painting also shows a panorama of Citerna around 1500 seen from the plain of Sansepolcro), both of the artist Simone Ciburri, a pupil of Bandiera.

On the same right wall is a niche with a valuable fresco of the Virgin and Child, flanked by St. Michael the Archangel and St. Bernardino of Siena, attributable to the school of Luca Signorelli (perhaps Tommaso Bernabei, called Palpacelo).

In the back wall of the left side of the transept there is a majestic wooden altar dedicated to the Holy Crucifix, on which is placed a wooden crucifix of Byzantine style. On the same altar there is the panel of the Madonna and San Giovanni and two other paintings, all attributed to Raffaellino del Colle. Also in the left transept, note the altar dedicated to Mary Magdalene, with a panel of the Deposition painted by Nicolò Circignani called the Pomarancio, in 1570.

On the right side of the transept there are two other altars: above the first there is a panel of Christ in Glory by Raffaellino del Colle; on the second there is a 16th c. painting of the Madonna Enthroned.

 

Source: Umbria. Vol. 1. La biblioteca di Repubblica - L'Italia, 1. Milano: Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso SpA - Divisione la Repubblica (© Touring Editore s.r.l.), 2005. 

Explore the surroundings
Main attractions in the vicinity