The church of San Francesco a Ripa was built in 1231 on the site of the chapel and hospice of San Biagio, where St Francis had stayed in 1219. The present appearance of the church is the result of work done in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The ornate high altar (1746) was designed by a Franciscan known as Fra Secondo da Roma. The much older wooden statue (c. 1550) which serves as an altarpiece is the work of another Franciscan Fra Diego da Careri. The allegorical statues of Religion and Charity, which stand atop the arches, are the work of Fra Secondo.
The Cappella Altieri, in the left transept, is home to a sculpture of the Blessed Ludovica Albertoni (1671-74), a late work by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). The extravagantly ornate Cappella Rospigliosi-Pallavicini, in the right transept, is an example of Baroque design at its very best.
The painter Giorgio di Chirico (1888-1978), founder of the Scuola Metafisica art movement, is buried in a small room beyond the first chapel on the left.