There is no certainty as to the date of the foundation of both the Church and the annexed Convent of San Francesco, since, as Cagliola, a Conventual Franciscan father, writes, "at the time of the plague the archive documents had to be dispersed".
The oldest document dates back to 1545, a legacy in favor of the said Convent. The building, however, was never completed even if in the early 1900s Father Cipolla proposed the restoration and completion of the temple.
In 1926 the marble altars of San Calogero and Sant'Antonio were erected. The Convent of San Francesco remains the only building of the '500 that has kept its architectural line intact even if after its suppression it has undergone changes following its use as a prison in the nineteenth century and in the first half of the twentieth century.
The Church stands in Piazza San Francesco, is dedicated to the saint of Assisi and the Immaculate Conception and San Calogero are also venerated.
The incomplete and unadorned façade is bordered on the sides by sturdy cantonals made of hewn stone blocks. At the top of the pediment, in a central position, there is a window without frames with two other smaller sides on the sides.
Remained incomplete compared to the initial project, it is an original church with an open-air entrance in a rectangular shape where the space is divided into three parts by two round arches supported by quadrangular columns. Inside the church, with a Latin cross shape, you can admire a monumental wooden high altar of the Ortisei, at the top of which is the statue of the Immaculate Conception.
Also appreciated: an artistic launch with the Immaculate Conception, also in wood from Ortisei; a painting depicting the Transverberation of St. Francis of Assisi, dated 1835, by the painter Carmelo De Simone; a canvas depicting San Bonaventura by the painter Marco Martino, dated 1831; a small wooden statue of the Immaculate Conception, placed in the sacristy and a valuable ancient bellows organ.
Church of San Francesco
Address: Piazza San Francesco, 1, 92020
Phone: +39 3287292008
Site:
https://turismoracalmuto.it/scopri#LechieseLocation inserted by
Ass. Consorzio Turistico Racalmuto