Rainy views from Piazza Grande in Gubbio - Logge dei Tiratori and Convento di San Francesco

The Gubbio Express ride ended in Piazza Grande, so after this time to explore the city.

Initially when we got up here it was raining, but it eventually stopped when we walked down Via XX Settembre.

Logge dei Tiratori

The long building, complete with arcade and adjacent to the church of Santa Maria dei Laici, was originally St.Mary’s Hospital, erected in 1326 on the initiative of the confraternity of the same name.

In 1505 other hospitals of the town were added to it, so that the building took on the name of “Spedal Grande” (in use until 1628). On its front can still be seen a fresco representing the “Madonna between St. Peter and St. Paul” (1473), by one of Nelli’s pupils. As far back as the middle of the 15th century the Woolworkers’ Guild wanted to build, above the hospital, covered premises where it would be possible to “stretch” pieces of cloth (that is to say, to let them dry after stretching them to the size desired). After endless controversies, the “stretching loggias” were finally built at the beginning of the 17th c.

Convento di San Francesco - Frati Minori Conventuali

Convent of San Francesco - Gubbio
Franciscan beginnings

The presence of St. Francis in Gubbio is mainly linked to the Spadalonga family, who generously hosted the saint at the time of his evangelical conversion and gave him a cut of a penitent's habit.
After a brief stay at the Benedictine monastery of S. Verecondo in Valligeno, S. Francesco devoted himself entirely to assisting the lepers of the hospital of S. Lazzaro.

Franciscan settlement

The B. Villano (+ ca. 1237), bishop of Gubbio, friend of St. Francis, eager to have the Friars Minor in his city, in 1213 asked and obtained for them from the monks of the abbey of St. Peter the ancient church of S. Maria della Vittoria, commonly known as «Vittorina».
The minor friars later moved, for reasons of apostolate, "to campo mercatali", where once stood the houses, the warehouse and the gardens of the Spadalonga family (about 1240). The convent, defined as the "hundred cells", built following the dictates of poverty, rationality, functionality, divided into two cloisters (major cloister and peace cloister), was not only a place of piety and prayer, but also a meeting place for study and of culture, homeland memories and city celebrations, seat of important provincial chapters and «caput custodiae sui nominis in Umbriae Provincia S. Francisci».
The ogival style church was built next to the convent, divided into three naves with apses, supported by 16 octagonal pillars. Already completed in 1254, it was perhaps enlarged around 1290 by the famous Sylvestrine architect, Fra Bevignate.
In 1256, with the bull dated 4 July, Alexander IV granted one hundred days of indulgence to devout visitors for the feasts of St. Francis, St. Anthony and St. Clare.
On 13 April 1291, Nicholas IV granted further indulgences to those who had cooperated «ad perficiendam ecclesiam».
In the eighteenth century the church underwent a radical remodeling, when, in compliance with the new aesthetic canons, it adopted a restrained Baroque formula which involved the total closure of the apses, the erection of numerous side altars, the masking of the primitive trussed roof and the disappearance of valuable didactical frescoes. The project was drawn up by Count Berardi and translated into work by Domenico Ragione, under the direct supervision of Benti I and Fabiani.
The solemn rededication of the temple was celebrated by Mons. Giacomo Cingari, bishop of Gubbio, on 25 August 1754.
The restorations of 1938 - 1942, carried out on the initiative of the minor conventual friars and under the guidance of the Umbrian Superintendence, freed the apsidal area and the first three bays of the ships from the Baroque structures, bringing to light interesting cycles of frescoes , among which it deserves special mention should be made of the one dedicated to the Virgin and executed in the early 15th century by the great Gubbio painter Ottaviano Nelli in the apse «in cornu evangeli».
The following are buried in the church: Bonaventura Pio Fauni (+ 1562), Egidio Beccoli (+ 1650), Antonio Agostino Mariani (+ 1780), theologians, and the blessed Bartolomeo Baroni, OFS, (+ 1236), Franceschina, OFS, (+ 1255), Pietro da Gualdo (+ 1367).

Withdrawal and demotion

The convent was suppressed in 1860 and was used for a long time by the state as the seat of government offices. The friars, who always continued to officiate in the church, already in 1870 obtained some rooms of the convent (which in the meantime had passed to the municipality of Gubbio) and others they had in subsequent years: in 1896 (coinciding with the movement of the eyes of the image of the Madonna della Misericordia), in 1926, in 1929, in 1930.
The relegation of the entire historical complex took place in 1956, even if the effective use began in 1960, following the transfer of the Carabinieri barracks and the prison.

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Taken in: Italy / Umbria / Gubbio / Roman Catholic diocese of Gubbio (show map)

Taken on: May 14, 2023

Tags:

Piazza Grande

Gubbio

Italy

province of Perugia

tree

trees

rain

raining

Piazza dei Quaranta Martiri

Logge dei Tiratori

Loggias of the Tiratori

column

columns

church of Santa Maria dei Laici

chiesa di Santa Maria dei Laici

Convento di San Francesco - Frati Minori Conventuali

Convent of St Francis - Friars Minor Conventual

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Camera: Panasonic DMC-FZ72, f/3.7, 1/640 sec, 7.8mm, ISO 160 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Panasonic DMC-FZ72
Aperture:	f/3.7
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/640)
Focal Length:	7.8mm
ISO:	160
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Ver.1.0
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