San Francesco, Gothic church in Pienza, Italy

San Francesco is a 13th-century Franciscan church on Corso Rosellino in Pienza, with a rustic, unfinished facade whose only decorative element is the portal. Inside, a single nave ends in a small cross-vaulted apse; the presbytery keeps 14th-century frescoes of the Annunciation, Deposition, Agony in the Garden and Stigmata of Saint Francis.

San Francesco was founded in the 13th century by Franciscans from the monastery of Corsignano, before Pienza itself was rebuilt as a papal town. The single-nave plan with a cross-vaulted apse follows the mendicant model, and the rustic, unfinished facade still shows that austere origin.

The presbytery keeps 14th-century frescoes by the Sienese painters Cristoforo di Bindoccio and Meo di Piero: an Annunciation, a Deposition, the Agony in the Garden, the Stigmata of Saint Francis and saints. The left altar holds a Madonna della Misericordia with Saints Sebastian and Bernardino from Luca Signorelli's workshop. The church was founded by Franciscans from the monastery of Corsignano.

San Francesco stands on Corso Rossellino in Pienza's historic centre, a short walk from Piazza Pio II. The single nave and terminal cross-vaulted apse are compact, so the 14th-century frescoes in the presbytery and the left altar are seen in a few minutes. The facade is plain and easy to pass unnoticed; look for the decorated portal.

The left altar holds the Madonna della Misericordia with Saints Sebastian and Bernardino, painted by the workshop of Luca Signorelli, the Cortona master active around 1500. Look for it against the church's otherwise sparse furnishings, a Renaissance panel in a mendicant interior.