San Francesco
Description
The Basilica of St Francis is a parish church and minor basilica located in Viterbo. The church was built from 1237, on land donated by Pope Gregory IX to the Franciscan Order. A pre-existing Palazzo degli Alemanni, dating to 1208, was incorporated in the convent complex annexed to the church. Pope Urban IV celebrated the canonization of the English Bishop Richard of Chichester in 1262. The structure was restored in the 16th and 17th centuries, with the addition of Baroque elements which hid the original Romanesque ones. An inscription on the façade states that the church, partly destroyed by the Allied bombings of 17 January 1944, was rebuilt and reopened in 1953. These restorations led to the removal of the Baroque add-ons and the restoration of the original Romanesque appearance.
The façade has a Romanesque portal with twisting columns. Above it are the insignia of Pope Pius XII, who elevated the church to the rank of minor basilica in 1949, and, above it, three single mullioned windows and an oculus. The original medieval façade features a portico and several frescoes. At the right corner is a hexagonal pulpit, erected in 1238 as a memorial of Bernardino of Siena's preaching in Viterbo. The church has a bell tower with a bell from 1259.
The convent housed in its history several saints, popes and emperors. It is now the seat of the military district of Viterbo.