The monument to St Francis of Assisi (1181/82-1226) in Piazza di Porta San Giovanni was built on the initiative of the Committee for the celebrations of the Saint, planned in 1926 on the occasion of the 7th centenary of his death. The execution of the work was entrusted to the Marche sculptor Giuseppe Tonnini (1875-1954). The bronze sculptural group depicts the Saint and five friars, the companions who in 1210 followed him on the journey from Assisi to Rome for the recognition of the first Rule by Pope Innocent III (1198-1216). The two inscriptions with Dante’s verses from the 11th canto of the Paradiso celebrating the saint, run along the eastern and northern elevations of the base, while the dedicatory epigraph is on the main face.
