Convent of San Francesco in Biancavilla
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The Convent of San Francesco in Biancavilla is the only convent in the city.
The convent and the adjoining church were built in 1686. Following the unification of Italy, the convent of Biancavilla was suppressed and the building was used as a military barracks. After about twenty years it was returned to the friars and is today the seat of the Friars Minor and of the local fraternity of the secular Franciscan Order.
Of particular interest is the cloister of the convent: with a square plan it is composed of arches and columns that surround a small garden. Under the arches it is possible to admire the frescoes of the life of Saint Francis by the artist Giuseppe Tamo from Brescia.
Another place of interest is the ancient refectory, where the friars once consumed their daily meals, today used as a meeting room . Inside there is the fresco of "The Last Supper", the work of Giovanni Lo Coco from Acireale, dating back to the 18th century. There is an evident historical anachronism in the work: one of the apostles is depicted with glasses.
The church attached to the convent has a simple façade with a baroque style lava stone portal: the jambs depict two Doric style columns which they support a broken rectilinear gable. Inside the church, with a single nave, of particular value is the canvas placed on the main altar of "The Madonna of the Angels and Saints Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua and Clare of Assisi" and, below, the tabernacle wooden solid wood with inlays dating back to the 18th century.
