Church of Saint Francis

The Church of Saint Francis, adjacent to the monastery then dedicated to Our Lady of Conception, was built in 1619 at the wishes of baron Vito Sicomo. Damaged by the earthquake in 1968 it was subsequently restored, and reopened to worship at the beginning of the nineteen nineties. In the second half of the nineteenth century the Municipal Authorities confiscated the monastery and part of the building was used to house the Town Hall, as it still does today. Following the earthquake the entire church vault collapsed, determining the destruction of the original altars. The tuff portal of the old façade has pilasters with Corinthian capitals. Today the church of Saint Francis, seat of the original San Vito parish since the end of the nineties, preserves the artistic base of the Holy Crucifix, the simulacrum that is carried out in procession on the first Sunday of September, along with Saint Vitus the Martyr, Patron Saint of Vita.