San Francesco

San Francesco di Paola is a church in the Oltrarno quarter of Florence, central Italy.

It was built starting from the 1580s as part of a new monastery of the Minims, who had been founded by St. Francis of Paola. The church was completed, with the financial support of the Strozzi family, around 1643, including interventions by architect Gherardo Silvani in 1638. The annexed convent was turned into a patrician villa in 1873. The church, restored in 1996-2005, is now a local parish church together with the nearby San Vito e Modesto.

The main work of art is a fresco of Madonna del Parto ("Our Lady of Parturition") by Taddeo Gaddi, which was transferred here in 1785 from the former church of San Pier Maggiore. Other internal sights include a 15th-century wooden crucifix, the Annunciation attributed to Giovan Battista Vanni, a 1602 Portrait of St. Francis of Paola, a painting by Ignazio Hugford and two works by Giuseppe Moriani (1716).