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The convent of St. Francesco in Padula is a monastic complex situated at the feet of the town of Padula.

Origins
It was built by Giovanni Tommaso Sanseverino, descendant of the more famous Tommaso founder of the Charterhouse of St. Lorenzo. In 1400 the construction was submitted to the Smaller Observant Monks of Pope Martino V. At the same time the cloister was completed, and in 1556 the bell was melted. The works quickly continued and to the ceiling they put some oil paintings that were lost after a  violent earthquake.

Structure
The complex is the union of different structures: the church, the cloister and the cells. The entry of the church leans out on the small square in front of it: this entry is constituted by three arcs supported by decorated capitals with a motive of leaves and a stone portal. The church is formed by two aisles of which the principal one with apse, everything is enriched by numerous eighteenth-century decorations.

The central aisle is frescoed by paintings from the New Testament while the side ones are decorated by floral motives, work of the painter Francesco De Martino from Buonabitacolo. In the side aisle we find six votive chapels: Madonna of the Graces, S. Anna, Crucified, “Cuor Gesù”, Our Lady of Sorrows and the Lady of the Angels. The last one is the most important and in the past the apse of the side aisle.

The cloister from which you can directly enter by the side door of the church is made of 24 columns resting on a basament. On the walls they have brought to the light some frescoes painted by Ottavio Paparo from Eboli. From the cloister you can access the library and the wine cellar of the Monks.

In front of the church through a gate you can access the large garden

Works of art
The Church also guards valuable sculptures representing saints, among which the loved statue of St. Francis, object of a secular cult among the inhabitants of Padula, but also of numerous thefts and profanations verified back in the years. The statue has been restored in the month of May 2018.

Further readings

 * Associazione Amici del Cassaro, Padula prima e durante la Certosa.I luoghi, i monumenti e le vicende della sua storia, Lagonegro, Zaccara, 1998.
 * Joselita Raspi Serra, L'architettura degli Ordini Mendicanti nel principato salernitano, in "Mélanges de l'école française de Rome: Moyen âge - Temps modernes", Volume 93, Edizione 2 (1981).