Church of San Francesco in Naro
Davide Mauro - CC4.0
The Church of San Francesco in Naro is an important place of worship in the village, declared by UNESCO a monument symbol of peace. The adjoining convent is now the seat of the Municipality of Naro.
The original complex, smaller than the current one, was built in 1229 by order of Rodorico Palmeri di Naro, on the site where the Fondaco delle olive was located, a place of great strategic importance since it was located in the center of the city center, aligned to the north with the castle and to the south with the Girgenti gate. In 1330, the complex was rebuilt in its current form by Giovanni Chiaramonte, then Lord of Naro.In the seventeenth century the building was further remodeled.
The façade, in yellowish tuff, presents valuable elements of Spanish taste. It is divided into two orders by a string course, with a sail top, and is marked by sixteenth-century pilasters. On the first order is the valuable portal flanked by pairs of caryatids and surmounted by the niche of the Immaculate. On the second level there is a large false window flanked by two niches, now empty, surmounted by the clock and some pillars that blend well with the façade.
The interior, with a single nave, features a rich stucco decoration, a 1780 work by Francesco Santalucia and his son Salvatore and gilded by P. Clemente da Bivona, and on the vault the valuable fresco by Domenico Provenzani.
Among the works kept inside the church, of particular value are: the canvas of the Marriage of the Virgin, located in the transept, designed by Raphael and made in Rome in 1780 by Giuseppe Mazzarese from Trapani; the rococo statue of the Immaculate Conception covered in silver foil, an excellent work from 1719 by Maltese craftsmen; the high altar, with scenes from the Last Supper and the Passion of Christ, made in 1899 by Gaetano Vinci da Naro; a rococo sink in black marble with white marble decorations depicting the stigmatization of Saint Francis, the work of Trapani craftsmen.
The Convent is now the seat of the Town Hall. It is accessed through an austere eighteenth-century cloister with a garden where, in the center, there is an artistic fountain.
Of the precious works once preserved in the convent, it is still possible to admire the left slipper of Saint Pius V, in Venetian velvet brocade, silk and gold, various sacred furnishings in silver and rich vestments. Unfortunately, the relic of the cord of Saint Francis, three alabaster statuettes and other precious objects have been stolen.
