San Francesco a Ripa
San Francesco a Ripa is a Catholic church in Rome, near the Tiber riverbank. It is dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi, who once stayed in the adjacent convent. The church has its origins in a Franciscan monastery in the Trastevere area, which in 1231 added a church of Saint Blaise and a famous Saint Francis fresco cycle by Pietro Cavallini, a forerunner to Giotto’s work in Assisi.
Construction of the present church began in 1603 under Onorio Longhi, starting with the apse; the façade was completed between 1681 and 1701 by Mattia de Rossi. From 1873 to 1943 the building served as barracks for the Bersaglieri.
Inside, many chapels display important works. In the right transept are frescoes by Fra Emanuele da Como and a monument to Cardinal Michelangelo Ricci by Domenico Guidi, with frescoes of Saint Giovanni from Capestrano by Domenico Maria Muratori and an altarpiece by Stefano Maria Legnani. The Rospigliosi-Pallavicini chapel, begun by Nicolas Michetti and finished by Ludovico Rusconi in 1725, contains paintings by Tommaso Chiaro and a Gaulli, plus family monuments; the main altar was completed in 1746. The Saint Francis statue here is attributed to Fra Diego da Careri, and the Trinity painting to Paris Nogari.
The left transept houses the Paluzzi-Albertoni chapel with Bernini’s Beata Ludovica Albertoni (1671–1675) and other works, including a bust of Laura Frangipani by Andrea Bolgi. The San Carlo chapel holds the remains of Saint Charles of Sezze (died 1670). The church also contains a copy of a portrait of St. Francis by Margaritone d’Arezzo (the original is in the Vatican), and in the saint’s cell is a black stone he used as a cushion. In the friary garden there is an orange tree said to have been planted by St Francis. In front of the church stands a column taken from the ruins of Veii, and the square is the seat of the cardinal title Sancti Francisci Assisiensis ad Ripam Maiorem.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:42 (CET).