Next to the small square in San Giovanni in Campo, along the Largo Monsignor Muzzi, stands the imposing form of Chiesa di San Domenico, the largest church in Città di Castello.
The Dominicans built the church between 1399 and 1424 on the site of an earlier small church. The structure is based on a single nave and has a four-sided bell tower on the right side. The external facade remained unfinished.
The presbytery is embellished by a precious inlaid wooden choir carved in 1435 by the Florentine master Manno di Benincasa, known as Manno dei Cori.
Two important works of art were once conserved inside the church: “The Crucifix” by Raphael (1503), commissioned by the Gavari family and now displayed at the National Gallery in London and the “Martirio di San Sebastiano” (Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian) by Luca Signorelli (1498), commissioned by the Brozzi family and transferred to the Pinacoteca Comunale (Municipal gallery) at Palazzo Vitelli alla Cannoniera.
Despite this major loss, the Basilica still preserves important 15th-century frescoes and an urn with the ashes of the Beata Margherita [Blessed Margaret], (1298-1320), a Dominican tertiary called La Cieca della Metola, are conserved in the main altar upon transfer from their original home. The decorative frescoes in the cloister adjacent to the church are dedicated to her and the story of the miracles in her life.
Concluded between 1662 and 1667 and recently acquired by the city council, the double-sided cloister of overlapping arches lends additional distinction and brightness to the imposing complex of the former Dominican convent.