Chiesa di San Francesco

The Dukes, having established their patronage of the Franciscan property, chose it as their mausoleum.
San Francesco remained active until the end of the Eighteenth century, when the Austrians expropriated it and transformed it into an arsenal.
It maintained this function until 1944, when it was bombed and partially destroyed.
Of the original church - around which the new one was entirely rebuilt - only the Lombardy Gothic façade remains, with its classic rose window, the front portico dating back to the 1500s, the bell tower (which originally was not castellated), and the chapel of San Ludovico di Tolosa, frescoed with a series on the saint's life, in which the remains of some Gonzaga family members are kept.
(Eleonora Corti)
Exhibition SiteOutside