The Church of San Francesco was founded around the middle of the 13th century by St. Francis, who stayed in Massa Marittima in those years to promote the formation of a first group of friars of the order.
The structure of the church, annexed to a convent, is extremely simple, in Gothic style with a single nave and ogival support arches and was originally located within the city walls. The exterior was characterized by large lancet windows. The church has undergone many reconstructions, mainly due to subsidence of the ground caused by earthquakes, and the nave was reduced in 1529 and several times in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Today, of the original structure, only part of the apse and part of the nave remain, while inside there is the sepulchre of Bindoccio, son of Margherita Aldobrandeschi and Nello Pannocchieschi (married in first marriage to Pia dei Tolomei). Some seventeenth-century paintings by Raffaello Vanni are found near the three altars.
