Church of San Francesco, Gubbio
The friars' church in the lower town, on the ground where Gubbio remembers Francis being received and clothed when he had nothing.
- Location
- Gubbio, Italy
- 43.3516° N · 12.5766° E
- Type
- Conventual Franciscan friary church
- A thirteenth-century Gothic church of three naves, vaulted in the eighteenth century, with a fifteenth-century octagonal bell tower
- Dedication
- Saint Francis of Assisi
- The church raised on the Spadalonga site
- Time Needed
- 30 minutes to half a day
Where Francis went with nothing
Gubbio is where Francis went after he had given back his clothes and his inheritance in Assisi. The friars' church stands in the lower town on the ground Gubbio associates with that welcome. Pray here first, then walk out to the Vittorina, where tradition sets the meeting with the wolf.
A tunic, a town, and a later story
Thomas of Celano records that after his renunciation Francis came to Gubbio and was given a poor tunic by a former friend. Gubbio's tradition names the friend as one of the Spadalonga, a family of cloth merchants, and places their house where this church stands; remains of an old house are kept beside it. The friars were given the Vittorina in 1213 and built this friary around 1240. The story of the wolf comes later, from the fourteenth-century Little Flowers of Saint Francis, and belongs to Franciscan tradition rather than documented biography.
A long limestone church with a rose window faces the broad Piazza Quaranta Martiri. Inside, three naves run toward three apses under eighteenth-century vaults; Ottaviano Nelli's Stories of the Virgin fill the left apse.
The beginning, not the miracle.
Gubbio's first Franciscan memory is quiet.
- 01 Start with the tunic Celano's Gubbio is a young man with nothing being clothed by a friend.
- 02 Name the wolf honestly Receive it as Franciscan tradition about peace, not as biography.
- 03 Let the town speak Ubaldo's basilica on the mountain and the friars' church below belong together.
The church was in use by 1256; its decoration was unfinished in 1291.
Nelli painted the left apse around 1410 to 1415.
Saint Ubaldo, Gubbio's patron, is venerated on Monte Ingino above the town.
Spiritual Significance
This is a place to pray with Francis at the beginning, before the fraternity, the Rule or the stigmata, when he had nothing and was clothed by the charity of a friend. The habit he would give his brothers began as borrowed cloth.
Gubbio also keeps its own saint. Ubaldo, its bishop, died in 1160 and is venerated at his basilica on Monte Ingino above the town, where the Corsa dei Ceri ends each May 15. Franciscan Gubbio and Ubaldo's Gubbio share the same streets.
- Celano does not name the friend who clothed Francis. The Spadalonga name is Gubbio's tradition, and the church keeps it as one.
- The vaults are eighteenth-century work over a thirteenth-century church. The older paintings were found again in the restoration of 1938 to 1942.
- The friary was built in the market quarter, among the people, not in a hermitage outside the town.
- The wolf story and the Vittorina belong together, about a kilometer from this church.
- From Gubbio the northern way reaches Assisi in two days' walking.
- The wolf story is a story about peace made between a frightened town and a hungry predator, through a promise kept on both sides. The early lives by Celano and Bonaventure do not tell it.
Do Not Miss
-
01
The left apse
Ottaviano Nelli's Stories of the Virgin, painted in Gubbio around 1410 to 1415.
-
02
The old house beside the church
The remains traditionally identified as the Spadalonga home, where Francis was received.
-
03
The Vittorina
The first church given to the friars in Gubbio, where tradition sets the meeting with the wolf.
-
04
Sant'Ubaldo
The basilica of Gubbio's bishop-saint on Monte Ingino, above the town.
See all 4 · 1 more
- Sant'Ubaldo The basilica of Gubbio's bishop-saint on Monte Ingino, above the town.
Visit Plans
-
About 2 hours Pilgrims tracing Francis in Gubbio
From the friars' church to the Vittorina
Pray at San Francesco in the lower town, then walk out to the Vittorina, the church of the wolf tradition.
- Prayer in the nave of San Francesco
- Nelli's frescoes in the left apse
- The walk out to the Vittorina
How to Visit
-
A friary of the Conventual Franciscans, built around 1240 in the old market quarter
-
A parish and friary church in daily use, not a museum
-
A stop on the northern way of the Via di Francesco from La Verna to Assisi
Begin low, then climb.
San Francesco is a working friary church in the lower town. Check with the friars for current Mass times before you plan around a liturgy.
- Address
- Piazza Quaranta Martiri, 06024 Gubbio (PG), Italy
- Time needed
- About 45 minutes for the church; half a day for Franciscan Gubbio
- Primary devotion
- Saint Francis of Assisi
Before setting out
The friars can confirm Mass times and access to the cloisters.
- Telephone 075 9273460.
The small church of the wolf tradition is outside the walls; check its access before walking out.
The Corsa dei Ceri fills the town; plan around it or come for it deliberately.
Relics, Tombs, Sacred Objects
Sacred Objects
- The remains of an old house beside the church, traditionally identified as the home of the Spadalonga family
- Ottaviano Nelli's Stories of the Virgin in the left apse, painted around 1410 to 1415
- The late thirteenth-century Christ in blessing with four saints in the central apse
Connected Saints
Continue Your Pilgrimage
Map
Francis's arrival in Gubbio follows Thomas of Celano's First Life. Building dates and the Spadalonga tradition follow the Comune di Gubbio and the Conventual Franciscan Province of Saint Francis. The wolf of Gubbio is told in chapter 21 of the Little Flowers of Saint Francis (fourteenth century) and is presented as Franciscan tradition; the Vittorina's link to it follows the Comune di Gubbio.
October 1, 2026
Photo credits
- Hero. Labicanense, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY 4.0.
- Three naves toward three apses. Labicanense, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY 4.0.
- Ottaviano Nelli's Virgin. Ottaviano nelli e bottega, storie di maria, 1410-15 circa, 01. Sailko, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY 3.0.