Complesso Conventuale San Francesco a Folloni

The Convent of San Francesco a Folloni is a place of religious interest located in Montella, in the homonymous locality.

Recognized as a national monument, it owes its name to the place where the first Franciscan community settled in 1222, the Folloni woods. According to a legend, some brothers decided to build a church dedicated to the Most Holy Annunciation after Saint Francis became the protagonist of a miracle occurred during a night stop in the woods, on the path towards the Sanctuary of San Michele sul Gargano. The first 13th-century church was later integrated into the monumental complex and replaced, in the 15th century, by a second religious building, with a single nave and numerous side chapels. The violent earthquake of 1732 made it necessary to build a new church in Baroque-Rococo style, higher and whose façade was rotated ninety degrees compared to the previous 16th-century structure, of which it retains some elements, such as the bell tower, the portico of entrance and the current Chapel of the Crucifix which, previously, made up the old apse.

Today the complex is made up by the Church, the convent, the cloister, the museum and the library. The 18th-century religious building has a majolica floor from 1750 and a rich ornamental set of frescoes and works of art, including the mausoleum of Diego I of Canaviglia located in the sacristy. This sarcophagus, made of precious marble by the sculptor Jacopo della Pila , is known as the “Lovers Monument" and was commissioned by the count's wife, Margherita Orsini, who died in 1521, and had decided to be buried next to her first husband, despite having remarried. We would like to also mention the Museum, which houses a precious collection of sacred art, through which the history of the Convent is told, and the Library, established in the 15th century, which houses about 20,000 volumes, works dating back to between the 16th and the 18th centuries.

The entire complex is a place where the Franciscan charism is perceived, steeped in the environments and in history and legends associated with this national monument, a destination for many tourists and a venue for art, culture, music and spirituality events.