Chiesa e convento di San Francesco, Medieval church and convent in Potenza, Italy

Chiesa e convento di San Francesco is a Romanesque-Gothic church with an attached convent near Piazza Mario Pagano in Potenza. Its tall Gothic facade has a large circular window, and the 16th-century portal bears the monogram of St Bernardino da Siena. The church stands on the remains of an early Romanesque oratory, and carved stones with fan-palm motifs found about three metres below the right corner of the facade are now set into the left outer wall.

The convent was founded in 1265 and the church in 1274, as two inscriptions on the main portal record. A 1279 notarial act attributes the dedication to Saint Francis: two workers buried alive in 1266 during foundation works were said to have been saved by his miracle. The friars' first lodging (1230-50) was a temporary station on preaching routes, and the complex was enlarged from the mid-13th century with documented donations.

The church is dedicated to Saint Francis because, according to a notarial act of March 1279, two workers buried alive in 1266 while laying the foundations were saved by a miracle attributed to the saint; the dedication followed in 1274. Between the 16th and 18th centuries the convent drew young men from across Basilicata toward religious life, helped by Bishop Bonaventura Claver's library.

The church stands near Piazza Mario Pagano, the city's main square, with its facade partly screened by the government palace of the Prefettura. The former convent wing beside it became a courthouse and burned in 1912; its rebuilding opened the alley called vicolo Ascanio Branca, which now separates it from the church. The conventual complex today numbers about forty rooms, still occupied by the Conventual Friars Minor.

The church was dedicated to Saint Francis in 1274 because of an event in 1266: two workers buried alive while digging the foundations were said to have been saved by a miracle attributed to the saint. A notarial act of March 1279 records eyewitness testimony to the episode.