After four years of work, Giotto’s *Stories of St. Francis* in the Bardi Chapel of the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence are once again fully visible. The extensive restoration has made it possible to restore the paintings’ expressive power, the complexity of their color schemes, and, above all, the extraordinary conception of space developed by Giotto. The completion of the restoration thus returns to the public a seminal masterpiece of the early 14th century, while also offering new insights into the techniques used by the artist and the conservation history of the cycle.
The project was sponsored by the Opera di Santa Croce in collaboration with the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, which oversaw its design and execution. The project was supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Fondazione CR Firenze, ARPAI—the Association for the Restoration of Italian Artistic Heritage—and numerous private donors, including Veronica and Dominique Marzotto and William von Mueffling. The Giving4 Giotto campaign also played an important role, involving supporters from around the world.
The results of the work were presented by Alessandro Tortorella, director of the Ministry of the Interior’s Fund for Places of Worship; Irene Sanesi, president of the Opera di Santa Croce; Giovanni Bettarini, Florence City Councilor for Culture; Emanuela Daffra, superintendent of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure; Father Franco Buonamano, rector of the basilica; Carlo Sisi, member of the Board of Directors of the Fondazione CR Firenze; and Dominique Marzotto, president of ARPAI.
The cycle in the Bardi Chapel consists of six episodes inspired by Bonaventura da Bagnoregio’s *Legenda maior*, in which Francis is presented as the *alter Christus*. The paintings depict some of the key moments in the saint’s life: from his renunciation of his father’s estate to the approval of the Rule, from his apparition to the Chapter of Arles to the trial by fire before the Sultan, up to Francis’s death and his apparition to Brother Augustine and Bishop Guido.
The restoration of the paintings also takes on special significance in the year marking the eighth centenary of the death of Francis of Assisi, bringing back into the spotlight a work that has served as an essential reference point for artists of subsequent generations.
The restoration has also allowed for a deeper understanding of the relationship between Giotto and the other painters who worked on the scaffolding under his supervision. The presence of collaborators during the mature phase of the artist’s career was already known, but new investigations have made the technical and stylistic differences between the various hands more evident.
The Bardi Chapel thus emerges as a veritable laboratory of experimentation, where the innovations introduced by Giotto were developed and helped shape the work of artists in the decades that followed. Among the most interesting aspects is the master’s ability to adapt painting techniques to his specific needs. The decoration was executed using a fresco base, but Giotto also made extensive use of dry-painting techniques. This choice allowed him to employ a wider range of pigments, modify chromatic and spatial effects, and manage the project timeline with greater flexibility.
The image now revealed by the restoration speaks not only to Giotto’s extraordinary creativity but also to the transformations the cycle has undergone over the centuries. The paintings were, in fact, covered with a lime wash in the early decades of the 18th century, before being rediscovered in 1851. This phase was followed by the restoration led by Gaetano Bianchi and, about a century later, by the intervention of Leonetto Tintori, carried out between 1957 and 1959 under the guidance of Superintendent Ugo Procacci. This long history of conservation has left deep traces on the surface of the paintings, which the new restoration sought to respect without compromising the need to restore as clear a reading of the work as possible.
Research, documentation, scientific investigation, and conservation efforts proceeded in parallel for four years, following two main lines of work. The first focused on the physical preservation of the cycle. Less obvious but potentially more dangerous issues for the integrity of the paintings were addressed, including repairs to cracks in the side walls, areas where there was a risk of plaster falling, and instances of lifting and detachment of the paint film. In addition, degradation caused by the widespread presence of soluble salts was addressed; deposits and deteriorated materials were removed; and numerous old synthetic fillings from the previous restoration were replaced. In their place, mixtures more compatible with the original plaster were used.
The second major challenge addressed by the restoration team concerned defining the overall appearance of the paintings.
The treatment of the lacunae required different solutions depending on their nature and size. In addition to the large, particularly evident losses of material, the surface in fact presented approximately five thousand small losses, along with numerous abrasions. The goal was not to erase the traces of the conservation history, but to reestablish, where possible, the continuity of the narrative through clearly recognizable restorations.
Among the most significant results of the restoration is a new opportunity to interpret Giotto’s spatial composition. The individual scenes are not conceived as isolated episodes but are united by a monumental painted architecture that ideally overlays the chapel’s actual structure, visually transforming it into a sort of large ciborium. This illusionistic device was likely intended to be replicated in the other chapels of the transept as well. Within this structure, the scenes are set predominantly in enclosed spaces, depicted from the front as large boxes open toward the viewer. It is the architecture itself that organizes the positioning of the figures and determines the perception of the narrated episode. Even when the action takes place outdoors, as in *The Renunciation of His Father’s Estate*, architectural elements continue to play a fundamental role in the construction of space.
It is precisely this complex spatial system that was one of the aspects most emphasized by the restoration project. The restorations have reestablished the continuity of the architectural framework—always through recognizable solutions—making it easier to appreciate one of the most innovative elements of Giotto’s painting.
The precision with which these architectural elements were designed on the wall is particularly significant. To construct them, in fact, the artist used incisions in the plaster and lines created with paint-soaked strings that were then pressed onto the surface. For the first time, this set of marks has been digitally mapped, allowing them to be analyzed as a whole and enabling us to trace the various stages of the pictorial space’s design. What emerges is a system of surprising complexity and precision, which provides a better understanding of the method Giotto used to construct the scene even before giving it form through painting.
Finally, one of the surprises at the site concerns the chapel’s vault, which had remained largely in the background during previous interventions. The new cleaning process, carried out in this area using laser technology, has made it possible to restore the quality of the allegories of the Franciscan Virtues. In particular, the figures of Obedience and Chastity have become more clearly legible, thanks to the reemergence of details that were previously difficult to distinguish or had been misinterpreted.
The vast amount of data collected over four years of work provides a foundation for new research focused on a pivotal moment in the history of European art and culture. The information gathered on the materials, painting techniques, and the conservation condition of the cycle will also make it possible to monitor the progression of deterioration over time and to plan targeted interventions when necessary. The restoration of the Stories of St. Francis in the Bardi Chapel thus presents the public with a clearer and more vivid image of Giotto’s painting, while simultaneously providing scholars with a wealth of new knowledge. The restoration project thereby paves the way for new interpretations and future research.
“This is no ordinary year. It is absolutely symbolic that in 2026—the eighth centenary of the death of Francis of Assisi—the cycle of the Stories of the Saint will be returned to the world and to the visitors welcomed daily at the Basilica of Santa Croce. A work of fundamental importance for its expressive intensity and for understanding Giotto’s artistic language, and a restoration that reveals its secrets while making it more accessible," stated Irene Sanesi, president of the Opera di Santa Croce. “Among the many words that could describe this project, ‘gratitude’ is the one that captures its deepest meaning and continues to fuel it. We are, in fact, witnessing an exemplary restoration—both for the scientific expertise and passion that characterized it, and for the generous support of its backers: alongside the Opera di Santa Croce and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, the contributions of the Fondazione CR Firenze and ARPAI (Association for the Restoration of Italian Artistic Heritage) have been fundamental, along with numerous private donors. Now a new chapter begins, one that is equally important, concerning the sharing of research and the telling of the universal values of the stories of St. Francis for our time.”
“The restoration of the Bardi Chapel that has now been completed was both necessary and challenging. Necessary because the walls presented multiple critical issues, both structural and related to the paint layers. Challenging because tackling a masterpiece—and this is one—is never something done lightly; because it is a work that has captured everyone’s attention following a bold restoration that removed the actual 19th-century alterations; because it is severely incomplete and preserved in a very uneven manner,” emphasized Emanuela Daffra, superintendent of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure. “The goals of better understanding it, securing it to the necessary and sufficient extent, and restoring its unity as much as possible were achieved thanks to genuine teamwork. This involved not only the OPD staff and the conservators led by Maria Rosa Lanfranchi and Renata Pintus, but also the institutions engaged in the most advanced diagnostic and documentation work, the scientific committee, the owners, and the funders.”
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| Giotto Shines Once Again at Santa Croce: The "Stories of St. Francis" in the Bardi Chapel Have Been Restored |
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