chiesa di S. Maria in Castro o di S. Francesco

This church faces the northern side of Piazza Fratelli Conazzi, separated from it by a slightly raised, railed churchyard. Its façade is divided into two orders by a decorated cornice, with a broken arch at the centre. The lower section is dominated by a portico on small columns, above which stands a statue of St Francis. The upper part, arranged on two levels linked by volutes between lateral torches, closes with a stucco-decorated triangular pediment. Between the string-course and the tympanum, a semicircular window rests on a corbel decorated with festoons.

Inside, the single nave ends in a flat-bottomed apse. Two flat-bottomed chapels open on each side; corresponding to these, the central barrel vault is deeply groined. The overall impression is of a structure that has been reworked over time, Byzantine in origin, perhaps, but now wearing its later Baroque and Franciscan layers with a certain formal dignity.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.