San Francesco Church, Gothic basilica in Piazza Cavalli, Piacenza, Italy

San Francesco Church is a Lombard Gothic basilica built between 1278 and 1363 for the Friars Minor. Its exposed-brick facade is divided into two levels by a horizontal cornice and into three parts by buttresses, the central pair ending in pyramid-shaped pinnacles. A rose window with a terracotta frame of interlaced arches sits between them, flanked by two oculi. The central marble portal, carved in the 14th century, has multiple mouldings and a lunette with a relief of the Stigmata of Saint Francis, made around 1480 by Guiniforte Solari and his son Pierantonio.

The basilica was founded in 1278 under the patronage of the Ghibelline lord Umbertino Landi and quickly became a center of Franciscan monastic life. Over the centuries it also hosted important public announcements, reflecting the close ties between the church and the city's political life.

The church stands on the central square of Piacenza, a site chosen as a symbol of neutrality because it fell under municipal authority rather than either faction. Its name recalls the Friars Minor who built it from 1278. On 10 May 1848 the building hosted the plebiscite by which Pietro Gioia proclaimed Piacenza's annexation to the Kingdom of Sardinia.

The church stands in the city centre, not on Piazza Cavalli; its main front faces the piazza and is reached by a marble stair of eight steps up to the churchyard. The surviving portico of the demolished friary runs along the right side of the building, on terracotta arches set on small square pilasters.

The north facade carries a portal moved here in 1940 from the demolished church of Sant'Andrea. The main portal's lunette holds a relief of the Stigmata of Saint Francis, carved around 1480 by Guiniforte Solari and his son Pierantonio.