2026 marks the 800th anniversary of the death of probably the most beloved saint in the world: Saint Francis.
Among the representations dedicated to him, one stands out, capable of giving the “poor man of Assisi” a personality that is not only grandiose and iconic, but also fresh and “pop”, just like popular. Because Saint Francis had an innate gift for enchanting crowds.
A more human character, with his own weaknesses, and therefore capable of attracting even more love and admiration.
To tell it around all over Italy for the third consecutive year with “FRA’ – Saint Francis the superstar of the Middle Ages” is Giovanni Scifoni, an actor with a thousand facets, master in dealing with high-level topics with simplicity, respect and fun.
Giovanni, you became popular with the musical “Add a place at the table” in the role of Don Silvestro, now you are traveling around Italy telling the story of Saint Francis. I’ll start right away with a personal question
What is your relationship with faith?
“I am a very believer, even if it is bad to say a very believer. Just like saying you are a practicing Catholic: what if you could belong to a religion without practicing it.”
“Frà – Saint Francis, the superstar of the Middle Ages”. How did the show come about?
“The idea for the show was born six years ago. A television program asked me to talk about him. To tell the truth, I had no desire to because I considered it an overblown topic: countless films, stories, novels about him, and certainly the world didn’t need another show about Saint Francis.
Instead… the world definitely didn’t need a Giovanni Scifoni show, but Giovanni Scifoni needed that show. I needed to deal with this extraordinary figure, to delve into the sources.”
Had you never delved into his biography?
“We generally have two visions of Saint Francis. A sort of precursor of the “New Age”, a non-conformist, against private property or the penitent Saint Francis, of the sacrifice of the flesh, of corporal punishment, of infinite fasting, the typical one of Franciscanism. I don’t know who Francis really was; the truth is that despite digging into the sources, conflicting versions of his figure emerge. Each biographer has told him in a radically different way.
There is no one Francis, there are many.
I love the version of St. Thomas Lateran where a very contradictory St. Francis is told, who seems to say one thing and then its opposite.”
And in your show, where you also call him with an intimate and confidential diminutive, Frà, you tell “your” Francesco
“I don’t know if what I’m telling you is the real St. Francis: it’s certainly the St. Francis that I managed to capture, the one that struck me, the one that I needed, different from that of Zeffirelli or that of Dario Fò.
I tell the story of the San Francesco Superstar, the most famous man of the Middle Ages. Who spoke about God with brilliant creativity. Francesco knew how to enchant the public: he knew how to make people laugh, cry, sing, dance. He played with the elements of nature. Tens of thousands of people begin to follow him. Many people become Franciscan friars and his becomes by far the most followed brotherhood, even putting other orders in difficulty; the children of the rich want to become Franciscans. After his death, all mothers begin to call their children Francesco. When before him this name didn’t even exist, it was an invented name, a nickname that meant French, because of his mother. In reality his name was Giovanni. Think what power. He, to put it in a modern term, was a great performer, an extraordinary entertainer of crowds. Without means of communication, without social media, he managed to gather crowds of over five thousand people. Let’s talk about the thirteenth century! And there weren’t even microphones. If you think about it: five thousand people, almost all of whom couldn’t even hear him speak! Yet, despite everything, these people converted. Many sources I found stated that he was a fantastic “jester”, in the most respectful sense of the term, he was a great showman.”
And what he preached was certainly not “inviting”
“Poverty, wearing sackcloth, giving up private property, fasting. How much “jester” ability. The show tries to evoke this enormous power of attraction and entertainment capacity that he had. An immeasurable talent and also an ego that went hand in hand. It is precisely this last point that I address with great interest: Francis was not supposed to own anything. He had once rebuked a friar because he had asked him to be able to own a psalter, a book of psalms. Saint Francis claimed that he did not want to own nothing, because if he had owned something, he would also have had weapons to defend it. This tells us a lot about the world we are seeing today. What one is able to do for a piece of land. It is all very prophetic.”
So a Saint Francis with a big ego?
He was a narcissist and fought all his life against this temptation, that of pleasing others, of consensus. I like to tell it in the show, especially from my point of view as an actor, who lives with consent!
Will he be able to give up even the strongest, most indispensable temptation to property, which is the ego?
At the end of his life, Francis will make the most extraordinary, most revolutionary gesture that I have ever heard done by any saint in the history of the Catholic Church.”
Meaning what?
“He renounces his order, the only thing he really possessed, becoming an ordinary friar. Something that no one would do and has never done!
And in the end, perhaps not even wanting it anymore, he won, becoming the most famous and favorite Saint in the world!”
