Church of San Francesco - Cascia
The first church dedicated to the Saint of Assisi in Cascia was founded in 1247, twenty years after his death.
The first church dedicated to the Saint of Assisi in Cascia was founded in 1247, twenty years after his death. In 1270, Beato Pace Francescano was buried there. In 1291, Pope Nicholas IV granted indulgences to the early Romanesque church of St. Francis, of which only the ragged walls, an elegant mullioned window and the portal remain. The current church was built by Antonio Elemosina of Cascia, a Franciscan, Bishop of Nebia in Corsica.
Work began in 1339 and ended in 1424. The rose window of the facade is remarkable. It's a work of masters from Como, and has 18 trefoil arches and 18 columns from central quatrefoil, where Mary and Child appear in glory. The portal opens splayed, with four columns on each side that support the pointed arch. The interior of the church is a Latin cross, with a trussed roof in place of the cross vaults that were damaged by the earthquake of 1703. On the sides three altars: the first one on the left is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, the second to Santa Rita, and on the third there is a canvas depicting St. Bartholomew, St. Peter and St. Paul. On the left, in the transept, there is a large exhibition altar that was a background to the central altar, painted in the late sixteenth century, the central painting of the Ascension by Pomarancio by Pomarancio, while the side paintings were attributed to Guido Reni and Perino Cesarei. On the right side of the transept there is a large painting of Christ with the Virgin and the Angels as they appeared to St. Francis in the Pornizucola (Assisi).