Pietro di Bernardone

St. Francis of Assisi's father, Pietro di Bernardone, was a wealthy cloth merchant who owned farmland around Assisi, and his mother was a stunning Frenchwoman. Source

• https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_di_Bernardone
• http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/pietro-bernardone_%28Encicloped...

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San Francesco (Saint Francis) was born on September 26, 1181 in Assisi to Pietro di Bernardone dei Moriconi, a very wealthy cloth merchant, and his wife Giovanna also known as Pica Bourlemont, about whom little is known except she is said to have belonged to a noble family of Provence, France. He was one of seven children.

Pietro was in France on business when Francis was born, and Pica had him baptized as Giovanni di Bernardone to honor San Giovanni Battista (Saint John the Baptist), in the hope he would grow to be a great religious leader. She even staged the birth of her son in a stable built for the occasion on the ground floor of their home to honor the birth of Jesus. Later the stable will be known as “stalletta” or “Chapel of baby Saint Francis” and it is located in the main square of Assisi.

When Pietro returned to Assisi, he decided to add Francesco (Francis) to his son’s first name. This name was the medieval equivalent of francese, i.e.“French” and was chosen to honor France, his favored business destination and to honor the child's maternal heritage.

From: https://www.myitalianfamily.com/stories/san-francesco-assisi-family...