Perugia: Oratory of San Francesco dei nobili

Oratory of San Francesco dei nobili. Protected by the double walls that characterize the elegant Umbrian city, the Oratory of the Disciplined of St. Francis (changed in 800 in Pio Sodalizio Braccio Fortebracci) stands out among the historical and artistic testimonies that adorn this ancient site. In the shadow of the monumental Torre degli Sciri, through a refined marble portal, crossing the elegant vestibule decorated with baroque stuccoes by Jean Regnaud, you enter the Sala del Consiglio and then the Oratory: a refined 'chiselled' casket that holds countless treasures. In the Hall of the Confraternity, the imposing and elegant seventeenth-century wooden stools (the work of Mario Pace) stand out, personalised with the names of the confraternity members; there is also a portrait of Braccio Fortebracci from the sixteenth century and a coeval voting box. Flagship of the early Perugian Baroque, the ceiling is modulated by gilded and carved coffers by Girolamo di Marco and Maestro Ercole (1570-74). The side seats at the back are by Maestro Gianpiero Zuccari, also the author of the imposing carved frames that frame the Christological works by Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia. A very interesting pictorial cycle made between 1611 and 1627 is characterized by biblical episodes (Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, Presentation in the Temple, Flight into Egypt, Dispute with the Doctors, Resurrection). The altar by Benedetto di Giovanni (1558) is enriched by Leonardo Cungi's Ascension. The liturgical furnishings and the processional banner with the Flagellation of Christ of 1480, by Pietro di Galeotto, are kept inside the sacristy. From 1319 the building was the seat of the Confraternity of the Disciplinants of St. Francis, which in 1472 joined those of St. Augustine and St. Dominic. The Braccio Fortebracci Archive, kept there, constitutes the historical collection of the three confraternities and is a source of inestimable value that breaks through the wall of time and opens a breach, in a particular way, on the activities of the Congregation of the Disciplinati.