THE CHURCH OF SAN FRANCESCO

You are in Piazza San Francesco, one of the largest and liveliest squares in the city, especially on Tuesdays and Fridays when it comes alive with stalls from the local market. This square is located at a crossroads outside the historic center of Acqui: from here, you can access Corso Italia, a pedestrian and shopping street, the Town Hall (Palazzo Levi), or, turning, you enter the direction towards Nizza Monferrato. After the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, the Church of San Francesco is the largest in the city. Its construction began in 1835 on the site where the Convent of the Franciscan Friars Minor of San Francesco stood, as evidenced by the bell tower and the apse of fifteenth-century origin. Now, focus on the facade: above the central portal, created along with the side doors by the sculptor from Bistagno, Giulio Monteverde (1832-1917), you can admire a fresco depicting the Madonna of Peace with St. Francis and St. Joseph, a work by the painter Piero Dalle Ceste (1953), while the two side niches contain statues by the sculptor Lino Sacchelli depicting St. Catherine and St. Peter. Upon entering, you can contemplate all its beauty: the single, wide, and solemn nave is flanked by a double row of five side chapels. The Church of San Francesco possesses precious paintings such as the "Immaculate Conception" by Guglielmo Caccia, known as "il Moncalvo", in addition to the "Adoration of the Magi" by Raffael A. Soleri and the "Madonna and Child between St. Francis and St. Anthony of Padua" by Pietro Beccaria. On the vault of the nave, you can admire the large fresco depicting the glorification of St. Francis, a distinguished work by the painter Pietro Ivaldi, known as "Il Muto". Then, admire, on the right side, next to the altar, the reconstruction of the grotto of Lourdes. The Acqui poet Sandro Cassone, in his poem "The Churches of My Acqui" (1987), thus recalls his youth in the Church of San Francesco: "As a child, the Church dedicated to St. Francis seemed small to me, with its unfinished gray facade, the interior without marbles and gilding. Such poverty pleased me because it was a faithful mirror of Francis, who was a brother to every creature, but more than others, to Sister Poverty".