The Church of San Francesco, one of the largest in Buti, was built between the 13th and 14th centuries, although it underwent modifications and restoration in later centuries. The interior has a single hall with a transept and a shed roof. It was originally a nuns’ residence.
The gabled façade, made of square blocks of stone, has an entrance door surmounted by an architrave and a mullioned window dating back to the 20th century. On the right side stands the 17th-century bell tower with three rows of mullioned windows and medieval bas-reliefs including that of Christ holding up the world.
The interior has a single nave with two side chapels. Little remains of the original mediaeval layout; a 17th-century Baroque atmosphere dominates, enhanced by oval paintings from 1731 by the Butese artist Jacopo Danielli. From the presbytery, raised above the rest of the church, there is access to the sacristy, choir and storeroom.
Not far away is the small church of San Rocco, protector against the plague, built by the inhabitants in the mid 17th century as thanks for the narrow escape from the epidemic that struck Monte Pisano. It was part of the complex of the nearby Medici villa and was built as an aristocratic chapel for the Tonini family.
Buti | Church of San Francesco