The San Francesco museum complex consists of the Civic Museum of San Francesco and the ethnographic museum “Il Tamburo Parlante.” Housed in the convent and the church of San Francesco, it is located in the center of Montone, at the end of a stepped street that runs from Piazza Fortebracci, the town’s center, to Via San Francesco, in the Borgo Vecchio district.
The museum, opened in 1995, boasts works of significant artistic value. In the Gothic church that hosts it, dating back to the 14th century, some of the original furnishings have been reinstated, while the adjoining convent spaces have been arranged to accommodate the entire historical-artistic collection. Upon entering the church, visitors will immediately notice the beautiful inlaid portal, the work of Bencivenni da Mercatello, 1514. Of interest, although fragmentarily preserved, are the apse frescoes by Ferrarese Antonio Alberti. Commissioned in the third decade of the 15th century by the famous condottiero Braccio Fortebracci, Count of Montone, the cycle is the most important testimony to Braccio’s courtly culture. Besides the finely inlaid choir stalls, the votive altar of the Fortebracci family is preserved on the left wall, featuring a fresco depicting Saint Anthony of Padua among Saints by the Perugian Bartolomeo Caporali. Also by this artist is the banner of the Madonna della Misericordia exhibited in the museum. Among the most valuable works on display is unquestionably the wooden group of the Deposition, originating from the Pieve di San Gregorio and dated to the 13th century. In addition to some paintings by artists of the 16th and 17th centuries, a substantial collection of textiles and sacred goldsmithery completes the collection.
In the same complex is the ethnographic collection “Il Tamburo Parlante.” Four rooms display objects from East Africa: Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. More than 600 selected items are arranged to illustrate the unique interactions of various African cultures with the natural environments in which they developed.
Information about San Francesco Museum Complex (Montone) in Montone (river)
Via San Francesco, 5
06014 Montone (Perugia)
0759306535
montone@sistemamuseo.it
https://www.comunemontone.it
Source: MIBACT
