Churches

San Lorenzo a San Francesco

ASCIANO

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Time table

Available on request to the Municipal Administration

The church was built just before the Franciscan convent, in the second half of the thirteenth century, on the ruins of a Lombard castle.  This dating is confirmed by the remains of wall frescoes about the life of Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi from the second half of the 14th century.

 

During the Baroque period the church underwent heavy modernizations; side altars were erected, and frescoed niches and lateral Gothic windows were sealed up.  Only small parts of the frescoes on the walls have been recovered.

 

The church of Asciano is, after that of Cortona, one of the chieftains of the Franciscan churches and is built according to the model conceived by Bonaventura da Bagnoregio, known as the writer of the biography of San Francesco, "Maior Legend".


The proportions of these monumental churches are studied with precision and the ratio between their width and length is rigidly 1 to 3. The historian Claudio Bartalozzi advances the hypothesis that the construction of the church of San Lorenzo in Asciano should be placed around 1265, Then a few years after the realization of that of Cortona.


In addition to the richness of frescoes still to be rediscovered in this church and the many works transferred to Palazzo Corboli, it is worth remembering the beautiful altarpiece of 1522, polychrome ceramic, by Luca Della Robbia. It should be emphasized that this church has long been linked to the Tolomei family, whose coat-of arms are widely disseminated both inside and out.

 

To access the map of the defensive sighting network, of which San Francesco was an important node, click here.

 

Access to:
Giovanni Jura
SAN FRANCESCO DI ASCIANO
works, sources and contexts
for the history of Franciscan Tuscany

 

The church was built just before the Franciscan convent, in the second half of the thirteenth century, on the ruins of a Lombard castle.  This dating is confirmed by the remains of wall frescoes about the life of Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi from the second half of the 14th century.

 

During the Baroque period the church underwent heavy modernizations; side altars were erected, and frescoed niches and lateral Gothic windows were sealed up.  Only small parts of the frescoes on the walls have been recovered.

 

The church of Asciano is, after that of Cortona, one of the chieftains of the Franciscan churches and is built according to the model conceived by Bonaventura da Bagnoregio, known as the writer of the biography of San Francesco, "Maior Legend".


The proportions of these monumental churches are studied with precision and the ratio between their width and length is rigidly 1 to 3. The historian Claudio Bartalozzi advances the hypothesis that the construction of the church of San Lorenzo in Asciano should be placed around 1265, Then a few years after the realization of that of Cortona.


In addition to the richness of frescoes still to be rediscovered in this church and the many works transferred to Palazzo Corboli, it is worth remembering the beautiful altarpiece of 1522, polychrome ceramic, by Luca Della Robbia. It should be emphasized that this church has long been linked to the Tolomei family, whose coat-of arms are widely disseminated both inside and out.

 

To access the map of the defensive sighting network, of which San Francesco was an important node, click here.

 

Access to:
Giovanni Jura
SAN FRANCESCO DI ASCIANO
works, sources and contexts
for the history of Franciscan Tuscany

 



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