Church of Saint Francis, Romanesque church in Pescia, Italy.

The Church of Saint Francis is a Romanesque and Gothic church on Piazza San Francesco in Pescia, begun around 1295. Its facade is decorated with a band of small hanging arches carved with animal figures. Inside, a single nave covered by timber trusses leads to a wide transept with three chapels, while monumental chapels such as the Orlandi-Cardini open off the left flank.

Tradition holds that Francis of Assisi stayed three days in Pescia in 1211 as a guest of the merchant Venanzio Orlandi, who gave him an oratory and a small house for his friars. The present church was begun around 1295 and built over decades, with local families adding chapels. In 1328 the Guelf communities of the Valdinievole met here in a league against Lucca, leading to annexation by Florence in 1339. The church and convent were suppressed in 1810.

The 1235 panel by Bonaventura Berlinghieri, kept in the third altar on the right, is the earliest surviving work showing Saint Francis with scenes of his life and miracles, painted about a decade after his death. Its gilded Byzantine-style background and stylised figure make it a key work of early Franciscan art.

The church faces Piazza San Francesco; the entrance is on the square, and the chapels line the single nave and the transept, with the Cardini chapel in the apse and the Misericordia chapel holding the wooden Virgin. The bell tower of 1718-1719 by Carlo Antonio Arrighi rises beside the building. The sacristy wall fresco of the Crucifixion attributed to Puccio Capanna is easy to miss.

A wooden sculptural group from the 15th century in the Misericordia chapel is connected to reported supernatural events from 1506. This work remains an object of interest for those curious about local folklore and traditions.