The Chiesa di S. Francesco is one of the most important Franciscan sites in Terni. The Oratorio di S. Cassiano that once stood here was gifted by the Bishop of Terni Rainerio to St Francis to give him shelter during his stays in the city. The church was built in the second half of the 13th century and, in its original form, consisted of a single nave. The two side aisles were added in the 15th century, when the Franciscans obtained permission from the municipality to use the building materials left over from the demolition of the Arco del Fondanello, a nearby structure. The stone ‘sponga’ (lithoid travertine), used to build much of the church and two new naves, is a particular type of travertine typical of Terni and is very suitable for construction because of its lightness, strength and adaptability. It is highly malleable on extraction and solidifies on contact with the air. The stone is referred to as ‘sponga’ due to its ‘spongy’ appearance.
Looking at the facade, it is evident that the two side aisles were part of a later intervention. It consists of three blocks: a central one with a Gothic portal surmounted by two rose windows, and the two mirror-image side blocks with smaller portals arranged under elegant mullioned windows. Due to its strong similarity with the Franciscan churches of Assisi, tradition has attributed the design of the church to Filippo da Campello, the same architect who worked on the Basilica di S. Francesco e di S. Chiara. The bell tower, erected in the same period, can be accessed from inside the church through the Cappella del Cristo Morto near the altar.
Over the years the church has suffered considerable damage, and during the WWI it was hit by a bomb, irreparably destroying one of the chapels, dedicated to S. Bernardino. Many works of art were removed from the church because it was considered unsafe. One of these was the altarpiece painted for the high altar by Piermatteo D’Amelia, commissioned in the late 15th century. The painter had earned a great deal of respect from the patrons of central Italy after frescoing the great starry sky of the Sistine Chapel, which Michelangelo – it is said – was so sorry to paint over. Today the work, called the ‘Pala dei Francescani’, is exhibited in the city’s Pinacoteca Civica (art gallery) set up inside the renovated cultural centre CAOS – Centro per le Arti Opificio Siri.
Numerous decorative elements have remained inside the Church and one of them alone is worth the visit. It is a work by Bartolomeo di Tommaso for the Cappella Paradisi, located to the right of the main altar. Awe-struck by the passionate and colourful preaching of the Franciscan S. Giacomo della Marca and perhaps by the works of Dante, some members of the Paradisi family, who were city priors at the time, wanted to commemorate one of their relatives by commissioning an inspiring universal judgment. On the central wall of the Paradisi chapel there is Redeemer in judgement, surrounded by angels, saints and, a little further down, the patrons. Purgatory is depicted on the left wall, with the penitents placed in different caves and circles, and depicted above is the Descent of Christ in Limbo. On the right wall is Hell, with Lucifer dominating the damned, some of whom are placed in holes, others in caves. Higher up, angels throw sinners from the caves.