CONVENTO DI SAN FRANCESCO A FOLLONI

According to tradition, during his pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Gargano, in Puglia, St. Francis of Assisi, accompanied by his confreres, was forced to spend the night in the wood of Folloni. Although it snowed all night, the inhabitants of Montella discovered at dawn that the oak tree that had sheltered the holy man had been spared by the weather. In view of this miracle, they asked St. Francis to leave two of his confreres in Montella to found a religious community. The convent of Folloni was favoured by the Anjou dynasty, which granted it many privileges, and it became richer thanks to the donations of the Neapolitan sovereigns and the nobility. After the earthquake of 1732, it was completely refurbished and the church was rotated by ninety degrees. Inside, there is a beautiful majolica pavement. The funerary monument of Diego I Cavaniglia, sculpted in the 15th century, is also called the "monument of the Lovers": the young man died in the battle of Otranto against the Turks in 1480, and his wife, Margherita Orsini, although forced to remarry, asked that on her death, her tomb be placed at the feet of Diego's mausoleum as a sign of eternal love. In the museum set up in the convent, you can see the archaeological excavations carried out under the complex, a small collection of paintings, and the well-preserved clothes worn by Diego's remains, which were found in 2004.