The Temple of San Francesco is probably one of the most beautiful churches in the city.
The church was founded by the patron saint of Italy himself in 1222, at the foot of Mount Orlando. It was Charles II of Anjou who had it rebuilt a few centuries later and, finally, it was Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies who ordered a radical restoration.
The arrival to the church is characterized by a monumental staircase that presents in the centre the statue of the "Religion".
The façade is characterised by the statues of Charles II of Anjou and Ferdinand II at the sides of the portal with epigraphs in Latin below describing the commitment of the sovereigns in building and restoring the complex; in the tympanum the "Allegory of the Restoration of the Papacy" and on the frame from left to right the statues of: San Bernardo, Sant’Ambrogio, San Francesco, Sant’Agostino and San Tommaso D’Aquino.
The interior has three naves, the central one of which is enriched by plaster statues of the Holy Apostles on the pillars, culminating in the marble statue of the Redeemer in the apse, which has a circular rose window with polychrome glass at the top and the main altar in stucco decorated in neo-Gothic style.
The side naves are composed of one bay less and end with polychrome marble altars.
On the counter-façade, below the rose window, there is a nineteenth-century painting of St. Francis showing the stigmata (Giuseppe Sabbione).
From the Temple you can also admire a breathtaking view!
