{"id":1268,"date":"2021-04-07T08:33:07","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T08:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.articity.it\/must-see-perugia\/san-francesco-prato-church\/"},"modified":"2021-04-07T08:33:07","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T08:33:07","slug":"san-francesco-prato-church","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.articity.it\/en\/must-see-perugia\/san-francesco-prato-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Church of San Francesco al Prato"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <strong>San Francesco al Prato complex<\/strong> is located in one of the most beautiful of Perugia\u2019s squares. This fascinating monument is definitely worth seeing <strong>if you are spending a day or a weekend in Perugia<\/strong>. After having admired the <strong>wonderful former church<\/strong>, take some time to <strong>relax on the lawn in front of it<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n<p>Dating back to the <strong>mid-13th century<\/strong>, the <strong>church of San Francesco al Prato<\/strong> was one of the most important Franciscan churches in the city. It had considerable religious, artistic, social and political importance.<\/p> \r\n<h2>Church of San Francesco al Prato: Architecture and History<\/h2>\r\n<p>The church was founded by Franciscans in <strong>1251<\/strong>, and was <strong>the second Franciscan church<\/strong>. It takes its shape from the mother church,  <strong>the Basilica of St. Francis, in Assisi<\/strong>. It rises above the ancient church of Santa Susanna, which gives its name to the surrounding district: Rione Santa Susanna.<\/p> \r\n<p>The church has kept its original <strong>single nave structure<\/strong>; but over the centuries it has suffered  <strong>many collapses and damage<\/strong> due to wars and natural disasters. As such, the church has required several consolidation and restructuring interventions. The church <strong>remained open to the elements<\/strong> for years due to the collapse of the vaults, following landslides and earthquakes. The <strong>altars and chapels were lost<\/strong>, but the beautiful <strong>polychrome facade<\/strong> was restored in <strong>1926<\/strong> by the architect Pietro Angelini.<\/p> \r\n<p>The complex became very important for the community when the relics of <strong>Giles of Assisi<\/strong> (1190-1262), companion of St. Francis, arrived in the church.<\/p>\r\n<p>From that moment, noble Perugian families began to identify the church of San Francesco al Prato as <strong>a prestigious burial place<\/strong>  for their loved ones.<\/p>\r\n<p>The complex thus quickly became the <strong>the Perugia \u201cPantheon\u201d<\/strong>: nobles, generals, writers and jurists were buried there.<\/p>\r\n  \r\n<h2>Church of San Francesco al Prato: the artworks<\/h2>\r\n<p>The growth of the church\u2019s prestige had a further important effect. The noble Perugian families began to enrich it with <strong>fine works of art<\/strong>, including extraordinary masterpieces by Bonfigli, Perugino, Pinturicchio, Raffaello and Alfani.<\/p>\r\n \r\n<p>Unfortunately, the damage caused to the church facilitated <strong>the theft of its artworks and the Napoleonic looting<\/strong>: one third of the masterpieces stolen from Umbria came from San Francesco al Prato. <strong>After Italian Unification (1861), the complex became a State property<\/strong>, and almost all the remaining artworks were taken away.<\/p>\r\n \r\n<p>Many of these works of art are now exhibited in various national museums: the <strong><em>Pala Baglioni<\/em><\/strong> is in the <strong>Galleria Borghese<\/strong>; the <strong><em>&#8220;Incoronazione della Vergine&#8221;<\/em><\/strong> (also known as <strong><em>Pala degli Oddi<\/em><\/strong>, by Raffaello is in the <strong>Pinacoteca Vaticana<\/strong> together with the <strong><em>Resurrezione<\/em> by Perugino<\/strong>. Other artworks are displayed in the <strong>Galleria Nazionale dell\u2019Umbria<\/strong> in Perugia.<\/p>\r\n \r\n<h2>Church of San Francesco al Prato: What to See Inside<\/h2>\r\n<p>San Francesco al Prato is no longer used as a church. It has recently been restored and set up as an <strong>Auditorium<\/strong>, and will soon open to the public.\r\nIn the summer,  the auditorium becomes <strong>a historical and artistic setting<\/strong> for <strong>Umbria Jazz<\/strong> concerts.The modern auditorium, with over 500 seats, will also be used for dance shows, plays, conferences and other cultural and sporting events.<\/p>\r\n<p>The San Francesco al Prato complex, which includes the <strong>Oratorio di san Bernardino<\/strong>, has been the seat of the <strong>Accademia di Belle Arti Pietro Vannucci<\/strong> and the <strong>Musa<\/strong> museum since the early 20th century.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francesco al Prato complex is located in one of the most beautiful of Perugia\u2019s squares. This fascinating monument is definitely worth seeing if you are spending a day or a weekend in Perugia. After having admired the wonderful former church, take some time to relax on the lawn in front of it. Dating [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1136,"parent":1262,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/page_attrazioni_child.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1268","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tour-creativity-tour"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Church of San Francesco al Prato | Articity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.articity.it\/en\/must-see-perugia\/san-francesco-prato-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Church of San Francesco al Prato | Articity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The San Francesco al Prato complex is located in one of the most beautiful of Perugia\u2019s squares. This fascinating monument is definitely worth seeing if you are spending a day or a weekend in Perugia. After having admired the wonderful former church, take some time to relax on the lawn in front of it. 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