San Francesco, Sansepolcro

San Francesco is a Gothic-style Roman Catholic church and monastery in Sansepolcro, province of Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy. Located in the Piazza San Francesco, it represents the first example of Gothic architecture in the city and holds significant art-historical importance, most notably as the original home of Sassetta's monumental Borgo San Sepolcro Altarpiece. The church continues to function as a place of worship and preserves a notable collection of paintings and sacred furnishings spanning from the 14th to the 17th centuries.

Construction of the church and convent began in 1258 under the patronage of Franciscan friar Tommaso da Spello, on land granted by the Commune of Sansepolcro, and continued until 1321. The Minori Conventuali occupied the convent. A major transformation occurred between 1760 and 1783, when the interior was entirely rebuilt with the addition of a vault and a semicircular choir, though the 17th-century stone altars were retained. The 1843 inventory recorded works by Giovanni de' Vecchi, Domenico Passignano (Cresti), and Giovanni Battista Mercati. The church suffered damage in the 1948 Sansepolcro earthquake, which caused the partial collapse of a vault and killed one woman, the earthquake's only victim. The bell tower also sustained structural damage, requiring reinforcement with a reinforced concrete skeleton and the replacement of a stone parapet with an iron railing.

The church's artistic holdings reflect multiple periods, though few works predate the 18th-century renovation. The collection includes 15th-century polychrome terracotta sculpture, 16th- and 17th-century altarpieces, and significant liturgical furnishings. The most important historical work formerly housed here was Sassetta's polyptych, commissioned between 1437 and 1444 at the cost of 510 florins. The church also preserves its original 1304 stone high altar and maintains an active musical tradition through its 19th-century organ.

The high altar, a sarcophagus-form structure with twisted columns, was donated by the Commune in 1304 in honor of Blessed Ranieri, a Franciscan friar who died on 1 November that year; his body rests in the crypt below. Until 1810, this altar held Sassetta's Borgo San Sepolcro Altarpiece, a Gothic polyptych of approximately 6 by 5 meters comprising 60 panels, painted in Siena and delivered by cart to Sansepolcro. Dismembered in 1752 and dispersed following the Napoleonic suppression of monasteries, about half of its panels have been identified in various museums and collections. Among surviving works in situ, a 15th-century polychrome terracotta Saint Anthony of Padua in a counter-facade niche is one of the few pre-18th-century pieces. Raffaello Schiaminossi's Virgin and Child in Glory with Saint Charles Borromeo and Blessed Ranieri occupies the first altar. Giovanni de' Vecchi's Stigmata of Saint Francis is at the second altar on the right. Domenico Cresti, called Passignano, painted the Dispute in the Temple of 1590 at the first altar, while Francesco Curradi's God the Father with Saints Peter and Paul of 1628 is at the second altar on the left. The Chapel of the Holy Sacrament preserves a 17th-century Dead Christ beneath the altar.

The exterior alone preserves 14th-century characteristics: the stone facade features a Gothic portal with a trilobed arch and a large oculus above. The remainder of the structure is hidden by buildings along Via Aggiunti, with only the bell tower visible, its narrow elongated openings and spire modeled on that of the former abbey church, now the Cathedral. The interior, completely renewed in the late 18th century, maintains the original single-nave plan typical of mendicant orders. The bell tower houses six bells, five of which are functional; the largest, cast in 1765 by Giovanni Battista Donati Aquilano, is dedicated to Saint Bonaventure. The "Raniera" bell, tuned to A and dedicated to Blessed Ranieri dal Borgo, was donated by the Commune of Sansepolcro in 2004 to replace a 1623 predecessor, which itself had replaced the original 1314 bell bearing the Blessed's name.

San Francesco stands in the Piazza San Francesco in Sansepolcro, province purportedly of Arezzo, in the Tuscany region of Italy. The church remains an active Catholic place of worship. The 19th-century organ, built by the Righi family of Sansepolcro, was restored and expanded in 1972 with a new expressive body and electro-pneumatic console; after a decade of neglect, it underwent further restoration in 2016 by Lorenzo Tosi and Paolo Fiorucci. The church also serves as the home of the Coro Città di Piero and the Corale Domenico Stella.