San Francesco Church

Acqui Terme, Italy

A church at the site of current San Francesco, dedicated to St John, was present since perhaps the seventh-century, since nearby Christian burial appear to date from then. In around 1244, the church began to be administered by priests from the Cathedral of Acqui. Around 1410, it became associated with the Franciscan order, and rebuilt and rededicated. The convent was suppressed in 1802, and the church was affiliated with the Confraternity of San Giuseppe, who briefly changed the name of the church. In 1824, the Franciscans returned, and they rebuilt the church in a neoclassic-style, adding the Facade, under the design of Ferraris in 1835, completed in 1854.

Parts of the church are ancient. The bell-tower and apse date to the 15th century. But other parts reflect refurbishments along the centuries, including the 19th-century reconstruction. The broad brick facade (1835–1854) shows eclectic styles with a triangular lower tympanum and monumental order pilasters.

The interior houses an Immaculate Conception by il Moncalvo; an Adoration of the Magi by Raffael Angelo Soleri; and a Madonna and Child with Saint Francis and Antony of Padua by Pietro Beccaria. The ceilings were frescoed by the 19th-century painter Pietro Ivaldi, detto il Muto di Toleto.

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Details

Founded: 1835-1854
Category: Religious sites in Italy

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

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4.4/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Fabia Armeta (3 years ago)
Pretty. Inside the winter chapel a painting of the Madonna del Rosario and the Immaculate Conception by the painter Guglielmo Caccia known as Moncalvo, born in 1568 in Montabone, a small town 11 km from Acqui Terme, called the "Raffaello del Monferrato".
Paolo Chiusano (4 years ago)
Eighteenth-century church located at the gates of the historic center of Acqui Terme, outside there is ample parking facilities (especially in the nearby barracks). Inside it looks like a church with interesting works of art (frescoes and altarpieces). Undoubtedly it favors recollection. To visit.
Vik C (5 years ago)
Given the impotence of the façade one would expect more but it is very sober even inside
Aldo Marchelli (7 years ago)
Eighteenth-century church still in order (but not the most beautiful) that invites a moment of meditation, despite the traffic right on the entrance door. I like to stop when I can, also for a greeting to the parish priest, Don Franco Cresto, whom I have known since, as a child, I attended the oratory of the Duomo.
Lorenzo Torielli (7 years ago)
The church was rebuilt between the first half of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century: the apse, the bell tower and the cloisters with octagonal columns and cubic capitals of medieval tradition remain from this phase. The current building is a neoclassical work carried out between 1835 and 1854 on a project by the surveyor Ferraris. Inside the church of considerable interest are the paintings depicting the Adoration of the Magi (datable to the end of the 16th century and attributed to Raffael Angelo Soleri) the Immaculate Conception by Caccia Moncalvo (early 1600s); the Madonna and Child between San Francesco and Sant'Antonio di Padova (17th century) by Pietro Beccaria. Of value are a marble statue of the Madonna crowned with the child and the main altar; the frescoes on the vault are by the painter Ivaldi known as “il Muto”.
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