San Francesco, Assisi - Lower Church


Fontana Chapel and San Pietro d'Alcantra   

 

 These two chapels have been merged into one, now called the Cappella dell'Immacolata: I'll suggest why below. 
  What was originally the Cappella Fontana links the Cappella San Martino with what used to be called the Cappella  San Pietro d'Alcantra. 
  I can find no reference to origin of the name Fontana (fountain). The church thronged with pilgrims, and drinking fountains were a necessity as at Santa Maria degli Angeli down on the plain, which has the fountain of the twenty-six spouts.  Such a facility would hardly have been inside the church, however.  
The first reference to the San Pietro chapel is from 1493 when it was known as the Cappella di Sant'Andrea; it belonged to the Aromatari family. In 1669 it was rededicated to San Pietro d'Alcantra (1499 – October 18, 1562) on his canonisation. The Franciscan Pietro lived a life of austerity; at one point he walked barefoot from Spain to Rome. 


  That part of the chapel that was Cappella Fontana contains a 17th century  painted wooden statue of the Virgin dedicated to St Giuseppe da Copertino. (Joseph of Cupertino.) An interesting saint; according to legend, he was able to levitate, and thus has become the patron saint of air travellers. This statue, known as the Immacolata, was moved here in the nineteenth century from an altar in the north transept, now removed; thus the contemporary name of the chapel.
   The San Pietro part of the chapel contains bronzes by Tommaso Gismondi.

 

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