Il "segno" di San Francesco: immagini di una vita

In one drawing, Francis lies on a rough bed inside a building, blessing the people crowding round him, while a friar bends to kiss his stigmatised foot. The Ambrosiana's own text then admits it didn't happen like that: Francis asked to be laid naked on the bare ground of the Porziuncola chapel, and died there on the evening of 3 October 1226.

That drawing, from the 17th-century Codice Resta, anchors a small show for the 800th anniversary of his death. You walk the Pinacoteca's usual route and find four paintings of the saint picked out along it, then drawings of scenes from his life in the cases of Rooms 2 and 3, most on public view for the first time. It ends in the Sala Federiciana with seven engravings, and a screen shows the Franciscan works that couldn't go on display.

It suits a visit you were making for the collection anyway more than a special trip. It's included in a normal Pinacoteca ticket, open 10:00 to 18:00, closed Wednesdays.