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The former Church of San Francesco is a religious building that has become a museum. It stands in the centre of Nocera Umbra, Umbria, Italy.

History
The building was erected in 1319, when the Franciscan monks moved in from the monastery outside the walls, which had been destroyed by Frederick II of Swabia. The present-day structure of the church dates back to the last modification and renovation, which took place between 1494 and 1497, by the Lombard architect Antonio di Pietro da Castelrotto, who enlarged the already existing small Minorite monastery at the expense of the Palazzo dei Priori.

The façade, which opens onto Piazza Caprera, has two entrance portals: the first, in Romanesque style, is smaller and pertains to the first construction phase of the church, in 1319, when the friars obtained permission from Pope John XXII to build inside the city; the other, in Gothic style, larger and more polychrome, was built later, in 1386. An epigraph in Leonine verses, still walled up next to the portal, bears witness to these early extension works, which reads:

The interior has the appearance of a single, vast hall measuring 25 by 15 metres, divided into bays by five robust transverse pointed arches, in typical Umbrian style, and with three apsidal niches. The cloister, which stood at right angles to the church and occupied part of the square, was demolished around the end of 1800.

The first, almost entirely in the figurative style of Matteo da Gualdo and his school, began in 1497 and was probably completed around 1508. The second, which began around 1530 and covers the wall opposite the apse, was carried out during the episcopate of Varino Favorino from Camerino by masters from the Marche region, such as Venanzo da Camerino and Piergentile da Matelica.

In 1863, the church was confiscated from the friars and assigned to the Municipality.

Municipal Art Gallery
After decades of improper use, the former Church of San Francesco was restored in 1957 and since then has housed the Municipal Art Gallery.

It houses 15th- and 16th-century frescoes from the cathedral and works by Matteo da Gualdo; a fine Crucifix on wood from the second half of the 13th century, of the Umbro-Marchigiana School and the remarkable Polyptych of the Assumption by Nicolò Alunno from 1483.