Discover Museo di San Francesco, Greve in Chianti

The Museo d'arte sacra di San Francesco at Greve in Chianti was inaugurated on 7 September 2002, in the complex of the former convent of San Francesco.

From November 2003 the Antiquarium was inaugurated within it, where Etruscan, Roman and medieval finds recovered in the territory are exhibited.

The museum develops over two levels and conserves works of art and liturgical furnishing coming from the territory. That phrase is the key to the place: almost nothing here was made for this building. It is a collection assembled from the churches of a large rural comune.

The visit begins on the ground floor with the oratory, continues through the sacristy, and goes up to a first floor of works and liturgical plate datable from the 16th to the 19th century, closing with the archaeological section.

The museum is housed in the complex of the former convent of San Francesco, and the building determines the visit rather than the other way round.

The oratory is the convent's own chapel and is the first room. That matters for one object: the Compianto may still stand above the oratory altar where it was made to stand, which no re-hung museum piece can claim.

The sacristy follows, still functioning as the room where vestments and plate are kept — here the sacred vestments are shown alongside the reliquary cross and the painted glass.

The first floor is conventional museum space, holding works and liturgical furnishing datable from the 16th to the 19th century, and closing with the archaeological section.

So the plan is: a chapel used as a chapel, a sacristy used as a sacristy, and a floor above used as a gallery. Two of the three rooms are doing roughly what they were built for.

The museum was not built; it was installed into a convent, and the collection was gathered rather than commissioned.

The container is the ex convento di San Francesco, adapted and opened on 7 September 2002.

The contents arrived from outside. The record attaches a church to almost every major piece — San Pietro a Sillano, Santa Croce, Santa Maria a Cintoia, San Martino a Sezzate, Santo Stefano a Montefioralle, the badia di Montescalari.

One object may never have moved. The Compianto of the workshop of Baccio da Montelupo has perhaps kept its original location above the oratory altar.

And one object was assembled in two stages. The Compianto's glazed-terracotta frame of festoons was made in 1515–1520 and inserted afterwards, attributed to the Buglioni workshop — so even the centrepiece is a composite, and the record says so plainly.

The archaeological wing came last, in November 2003.

When did it open? 7 September 2002, in the complex of the former convent of San Francesco. The Antiquarium followed in November 2003.

Is the big terracotta a Deposition? No — it is the Compianto sul Cristo morto, a Lamentation over the Dead Christ, from the workshop of Baccio da Montelupo. Sources calling it a Deposizione are following the town article rather than the museum's own.

Is the frame part of the same work? No. The glazed-terracotta festoon frame was made in 1515–1520 and inserted later, attributed to the workshop of Benedetto and Santi Buglioni.

What is the most unusual object? Arguably the Pace from the bottega degli Embriachi — carved, painted and gilded ivory with inlaid wood, 14th–15th century — which is missing the Crucifix from its centre.

Where did the collection come from? From churches across the comune: San Pietro a Sillano, Santa Croce, Santa Maria a Cintoia, San Martino a Sezzate, Santo Stefano a Montefioralle and the badia di Montescalari.

What is in the archaeological section? Finds from the territory, including a small bronze bull protome, bronze coins, amphora and jar fragments and loom and fishing weights.

What does it cost, and when is it open? Neither is published in the sources behind this page. Ring the comune on 055 85451 before going.