The work, originally conceived for the eight hundredth anniversary of the Franciscan Order, was produced in a special edition to celebrate the election of Pope Francis.
The volume opens with an excerpt from Pope Francis's speech to media representatives on March 16, 2013, in which he explains the reasons for choosing the name.
The text, elegantly transcribed in calligraphy by Barbara Calzolari and embellished with an illuminated initial by Tiziana Gironi, was reproduced using silkscreen printing with the application of gold leaf at the Luigi Berardinelli printing house in Verona.
This is followed by the preface by Fr. José Rodríguez Carballo, Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, the unstamped Rule of 1221, the stamped Rule of 1223 and the Little Flowers of Saint Francis.
All the texts, in Italian and Spanish, were set in Bodoni round and italic characters in 34, 17 and 12 point sizes and printed in Loreto at Lamberto Pigini's printing house on 170 gram pure cotton veiled paper, made specifically for this edition on a round frame by Cartiere Magnani of Pescia.
Each sheet bears the Chi-Ro monogram, symbol of Christ, in watermark.
The work is enriched by ninety-two images, depicting works of art and documents inspired by the figure of Saint Francis, elaborated in photolithography by Mirco Cestari in Bologna and printed at the Lamberto Pigini printing house on matte coated paper produced by Cartiere del Garda in Riva del Garda.
The stitching, binding, and cover in fine natural first-grain calfskin, barrel-dyed in white with five ribs and gold inscriptions on the spine, were done by hand at the bookbindery L'Arte del Libro di Bruno Superti in Todi.
The cover of the volume features an image of Saint Francis from Giotto's fresco The Dream of Innocent III, located in the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. The work, measuring 23 x 30 cm, was created entirely by hand using the "strappo" fresco technique at Alessandro Mariani's Mariani Affreschi workshop in Brescia.
Each copy of the work San Francesco d'Assisi is contained in an elegant plexiglass box made to an exclusive design for FMR and bears the copy number and the publisher's autograph signature next to the colophon.
The work San Francesco d'Assisi is composed of 364 pages in the closed format of 32.5 x 45 cm and was conceived and produced by the FMR Publishing House according to the criteria of excellence of the art of Italian savoir faire, in a limited edition of one hundred and fifty copies numbered in Roman numerals from I/CL to CL/CL.
Five out-of-print copies were also produced, marked with the letters A to E, and addressed to the authors and creators of the edition.
The first copy of the work is reserved for His Holiness Pope Francis.