Chiesa di San Francesco
Seventeenth-century friary church perched above a fishing harbor, its altar holding a disputed Crucifixion.
This guide to the Chiesa di San Francesco above Monterosso's harbor in Cinque Terre opens with Gian Fabio Squarciafico, a Genoese nobleman who gave up his fortune to become a friar and helped found this Capuchin monastery in 1618, meant to calm a feud among local families. It traces the friary's construction from 1619, the Crucifixion above its altar disputed between Anthony van Dyck and an unnamed Ligurian painter who studied him closely, and the building's later use as a French barracks, hospital and storeroom after Napoleon expelled the friars. You'll hear about the wartime damage that tore its roof open again in 1945 and the restoration that eventually reopened the church. Look closely at the altarpiece and decide for yourself which painter you believe.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.