Palazzo San Francesco merges the two souls of the building in its name: San Francesco refers to the original dedication of the attached church with a convent, which was later transformed into a noble palace for private use following the Napoleonic suppressions. From the stylistic-architectural analysis, the church within the perimeter of the current palace dates back to the late 1200s; it is known that the church was consecrated in October 1331.
The sacred building was acquired in 1810 by Rocco Belli, becoming the private residence of the family. More than half a century later, in 1881, the “Gian Giacomo Galletti” Foundation, founded in 1869, acquired the palace with the aim of turning it into a cultural space to house its collections and library. The work of the Foundation was completed in 1984. All the assets, including the present building and Palazzo Silva, were transferred to the Municipality of Domodossola.
Palazzo San Francesco was used in various ways, not always suitable for its artistic value, and was then redesigned as an exhibition space open to the public in its current form on June 18, 2021. Today, the three floors permanently host some of the collections that were once part of the “Galletti” Foundation.
The structure of the ancient church, dedicated to
San Francesco d'Assisi, is still visible to this day;
The current entrance coincides with the original one, and part of the stone portal has been preserved. The ground floor is divided into three aisles: originally, the central aisle was covered by a double-pitched roof, while the side bays have retained ribbed and cusped vaults, where the frescoes are still visible.
Frescoes
The frescoes date from the 1400s to the second half of the 1500s. They were executed by various masters, presumably active in the Ossola Valley. Some works were commissioned by local noble families, whose coats of arms are depicted. The oldest decoration is located in the third bay on the left and is in excellent condition. It features the Christ in Majesty blessing at the center, surrounded by the evangelists accompanied by their respective iconographic attributes. The apostles are painted in full figure in the lunettes below.
There are also remains of the sculptural decorations, although in many cases they are damaged. The bases of the columns are of the “unghioni” type, except for two that have small zoomorphic and anthropomorphic reliefs. The reliefs on the capitals of the fourth and fifth columns of the left nave depict respectively a knight facing two beasts and the iconographic attributes of the evangelists.
Proin nec condimentum tortor. Integer magna elit, rutrum laoreet tortor non, facilisis suscipit ligula.
