The Covent

Franciscan Friars dearly paid for the fair view and the fresh air.

Regarding the construction of the Convent of Pisciotta, there is not much information and probably all written documents were lost due to various attacks by pirates and fires that destroyed the Convent.

The only remaining information is contained in Father Bonaventura Tauleri d'Atina's book of 1693 and reported by P. Gonzaga in his chronicle. You can read that the construction of the Convent of the Observant Minor Friars was dedicated to St. Francis and started in 1522 by Donna Giovanna d'Aragona. She was the temporal lord and also buried there. But this story cannot be confirmed. In those times the feudal lord was Baldassarre Caracciolo. His wife was Eleonora d'Aragona and not Giovanna. Perhaps there was an error in the dates because no Giovanna d'Aragona was married to another feudatory of Pisciotta in the 11th or 16th century. A text of the 16th century reports that " in1522 in the castle of Pisciotta Queen Giovanna d'Aragona built a Convent but then was raided and destroyed by the turks. This means that it was the Queen of Naples and not the feudatory of Pisciotta who founded the monastery. But the Queen of Naples had died in 1518.So the historical error persists and clearly she was not buried in our Convent. However, it is still tradition to talk about the Foundress Giovanna buried and venerated there. This was also due to a miracolous fact regarding her person (chronicles of various writers of the Orders founded by St. Francis, and improved and corrected by P. Leonardo from Naples. Father of the Seraphic Order, part IV, volume I. Naples, 1680,page 70) Father Bonaventura tells that the Saracen during one of raids desecrated the tomb of the Foundress and stole the corpse's rich dresses. Suddenly, however, they wee filled with terror and dread and fled as quickly as possible.

However, the chronicles tell another story. The unfaithful opened the tomb and found the "corpse intact", started to mock it, but then a big fear was overwhelming them and all of them escaped.

The Convent was not too far from the sea, near to houses along the hillside, in a panoramic position. But it was not within the buildings around the castle. So it was easy for the Saracens after landing at the Marina to plunder it several times. At the end of the 16th century the Convent was rebuilt with great efforts and the charity and generosity of Federico Pappacoda, marquis of Pisciotta since 1620. Remarkable was the assault of 400 turks on 7th June 1640.They had arrived on 7 galleys and attacked the village from different sides but had been pushed back with serious losses. So they poured out their rage and destroyed the Church and then the Convent. However, sadly and coincidentally the village people had stored great part of their possessions there to save them from the assault of the Spanish soldiers who had arrived at Pisciotta in March of the same year. The viceroy of Naples had sent them to force them to pay an extraordinary tax which the feudal lord had refused. Most of the possessions was stolen and the rest burnt down.

Father Gonzaga reported that the holy images and the statues had been burnt, but a canvas with the image of St. Francis that had been thrown into the fire, too stayed miracolously intact. You still can admire it in the Parish Church.

Until the 19th century the Convent of the Observant Minor Friars had an important role regarding the religious life of the community. Most of the inhabitants of Pisciotta had their tombs inside the walls of the Convent, even longer than allowed by the authorities. After a graveyard was built outside the village.

The history of the Convent is similar to many others especially regarding the Religious Orders which were closes, confiscated or raided by brigands. Moreover, there were political and financial interests. Bit by bit the Convent was defrauded by all its possessions. The property was divided and then sold. Nowadays, only some ruins remain which are private property.

The text is a summary of the pages dedicated to the Convent and described in the book "The Fief of Pisciotta between the 17th and 19th century" by Massimino Ian one, editor Giannini, Naples, 2016