Chiesa di San Francesco (Church of Saint Francis), San Gimignano

The Church of Saint Francis (Chiesa di San Francesco) is a building located in via San Giovanni in San Gimignano, in the province of Siena.

Among the so-called "minor" buildings of the Valdelsa, the church of San Francesco is the one that more than any other comes closest to the stylistic models of the Pisan-Lucca Romanesque, even if mediated by local artists from Volterra. The building can be dated to the second decade of the XIII century.

It was born as a hospital dedicated to Saint John in Jerusalem. There is news of its existence since the early thirteenth century. In 1221 a sacerdos Johannes hospitalis S.Johannis is mentioned, in 1231 such a master Arrigo became a Jerusalemite friar and his investiture took place in this church; between 1251 and 1259 a Melior frater seu hospitalarius sancti Johannis Hierosolimitani, rector ecclesie Sancti Johannis dicti Hospitalis, sitae Sancto Gimignano in burgo Sancti Johannis is documented.