Medieval San Francesco Church in Alessandria Restored, to Become City Museum

After 25 years of complex restoration, the Church of San Francesco in Alessandria, Italy, is reopening to the public on weekends in June 2026 starting June 6-7, with plans to transform the entire complex into a City Museum. The Gothic church, founded in 1268 per a papal bull by Clement IV and consecrated in 1314, was one of the most important Franciscan centers in northern Italy. In the 19th century, it was converted into a cavalry barracks (1803) and later a military hospital (1833) under Carlo Alberto di Savoia, which subdivided the interior and added a central courtyard. The facade lost its sacred character, but a 1919 intervention by the Soprintendenza prevented demolition. The city of Alessandria purchased the complex from the Genio Militare in 1989. The restoration, begun in 2022, has revealed original Gothic brickwork, polychrome vault paintings, and 14th-century fresco fragments. The church, located on via XXIV Maggio, features a 22-meter facade with a full-arch portal and a well-preserved bell tower with ogival hanging arches.