The presence of the Franciscans in Lucca became immediately relevant since 1228, though the church was rebuilt and enlarged in the fourteenth century. Inside the church see the cloisters with medieval tombs located along the north side and the sacristy of the thirteenth century, with a central pillar used to support the archways.
The church houses the tomb of Giovanni Guidiccioni (1500-1541) bishop, poet and humanist. A plaque in memory of Castruccio Castracani of Antelminelli, distinguished citizen and leader of Lucca is there too.
In the chapel to the right of the main altar are the remains of the funerary monument of Ugolino Visconti, governor of Pisa, kicked out by his grandfather Ugolino della Gherardesca (1288). His heart and his bowels were kept in a chest that ended then lost during the renovation of the chapel, in 1746.
Also mentioned by Dante Alighieri in the seventh piece of the Purgatory, to honor Ugolino Visconti, a plaque in Latin was placed in the church of San Francesco: it begins with the words "Qui è il cuore illustre del nobile Ugolino, giudice di Gallura..." ("Here is the heart of the illustrious nobleman Ugolino , Judge of Gallura ...").
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