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Church of SS. Dominic and Francis

The present church, originally dedicated to the Holy Saviour, was built during the latter half of the 13th/early 14th century in local Gothic style, and became one with the Dominican convent built in 1247.
The outer walls is enlivened by white and pink stripes, similarly to other Umbrian churches such as St. Clare in Assisi or St. Prassede in Todi. A rose-window was planned, but never done, on the church’s portal, while on the right side a great portal was opened, featuring bundled mullions. A lunette above the portal portrays the Holy Saviour, in a work by Perino Cesarei dating to 1591.
The typical layout of the churches of the Mendicant Orders is featured here: a single nave with wide transept and a tribune with chapels. Numerous frescoes dating to various periods decorate the church, many of which are scrappy because of the renovations the church faced during the 16th and 17th centuries. Canvases include a Transfiguration, a copy by Cavalier d’Arpino of the famous work by Raphael. On the right transept there is an altarpiece by renowned Parmesan painter Giovanni Lanfranco, portraying a Madonna with Child and Saints. In one of the chapels left of the tribune, there is the famous relic of the Holy Nail, coming from Christ’s cross.

L’Umbria, Manuali per il Territorio, Spoleto, Roma 1978

Useful information

Address: Piazza San Domenico

Managing body: Archdiocese Spoleto - Norcia


Usage: Open for the cult

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