Basilica of San Francesco, Arezzo
Franciscan workshop · Arezzo, Italy · 1377
Arezzo's Basilica of San Francesco is a restrained mendicant church whose simple volume provides the setting for Piero della Francesca's Legend of the True Cross. A broad single nave, timber roof and minimally articulated exterior keep attention on the liturgical and painted interior. The Bacci Chapel transforms the east end through a carefully ordered fresco cycle that uses light, architecture and landscape to construct narrative space. The church was built and decorated over several phases, and later interventions affected both structure and presentation. The date is an approximate completion anchor for the medieval basilica rather than a final date for the frescoed ensemble.