St. Francis of Assisi Church

The church of St. Francis of Assisi according to popular tradition, remembers the transition from Oria the saint of Assisi. The present building is the Baroque period. It was originally to be a Basilian church, dedicated to Our Lady of Constantinople. In the fifteenth century the church, with the adjoining Franciscan monastery, was rebuilt by Prince Giovanni Antonio Del Balzo Orsini, only to be rebuilt in the eighteenth century. Inside are the relics of St. Francis from Durres (former protector of Oria which was celebrated on the Sunday after Easter) and a lytic Pietà the fifteenth century that was preserved in the rock church of Our Lady of Gallana. On the side of the church is the cenotaph of Prince Giovanni Antonio Del Balzo Orsini, who built the fourteenth century church (before the current baroque). Hosts the International Literary Prize ‘The Pit and the Orange’, was born in 2005. It was erected parish August 22, 1947 by the Apostolic Administrator Ferdinand Bernardi. It was renovated in the fifties and in 2004-2005, when they were brought to light the remains of the fifteenth-century church.