2. History of the San Francesco Complex

The San Francesco complex, formed by the church and the ancient Franciscan convent, is one of the most important places in the religious and artistic history of Gerace, as well as one of the oldest Franciscan settlements in Calabria. The complex was built in 1252 in the north-west area of the village, near Piazza delle Tre Chiese. The church rests on the ruins of an earlier Romanesque building, while the convent was founded in the early 13th century when the village was considered one of the most important religious and administrative centres in southern Italy. Over the centuries, the complex was extended and transformed several times: between the 17th and 18th centuries, side chapels and Baroque elements were added, while the convent was enriched with new spaces dedicated to monastic life and hospitality. In 1783, a devastating earthquake affected the village, leaving several buildings beyond repair and also severely damaging the complex. In spite of everything, the structure retained many of its original features but soon lost much of its splendour. Its decline can be attributed to the abandonment of the convent by the friars during the French occupation in 1806 and the subsequent suppression of religious orders. Moreover, in order to prevent the confiscation of its assets, the friars took them away, depriving the church of its rich artistic heritage. Subsequently, the complex had various uses: it was a prison until 1897, when it became a mill, an oil mill and the site of civil dwellings. The 1908 earthquake further contributed to the deterioration of the monument, which, however, thanks to the work of the Superintendency of Calabria, was restored starting in 1951, thus recovering a tangible testimony to the wealth of Calabria's religious heritage.