Convento di San Francesco e Brolo

Above Conegliano’s main street, the surviving cloister of the former Franciscan convent of San Francesco has been restored and reused for civic and cultural purposes. Behind the convent, the walled garden known as the Brolo preserves the terraces and boundaries of the friars’ former orchard, vegetable plot and vineyard.

Why it matters

Franciscans were established in Conegliano by the early thirteenth century, first at a convent dedicated to San Biagio outside the walls and later at the larger complex named for Saint Francis. For centuries the friary stood beside the city walls. Its church choir, enlarged in the eighteenth century, extended above the Castagnera fortifications. After suppression and partial demolition, the complex was briefly used as a hospital and later abandoned. Restoration from 1998/99 to 2002 returned the surviving cloister to civic use.

What to notice

The cloister survives with one adjoining wing; the convent once had two cloisters sharing one side. In the nearby house of the Confraternita dell’Immacolata, early sixteenth-century frescoes have come to light. Beside the Madonna della Neve church, the reinforcement works beneath the old church floor remain visible along the ramp, showing how the elevated eighteenth-century choir bridged the Castagnera walls. The Brolo is bounded by Calle Madonna della Neve and a surviving stretch of the fourteenth-century town wall.

Context and history

The Brolo served the convent for more than four centuries as an orchard, vegetable garden and vineyard. After the Napoleonic suppressions, it passed into private hands and parts of the walls were quarried for building stone. In 1986, the last private owner, Annamaria Carpenè, donated the land to the Municipality of Conegliano. Italia Nostra’s local branch took on its management in 1992 and funded restoration from 1994. The garden’s restored plantings include vines, olive and fruit trees; the convent building now also houses the Campus San Francesco lodging facility.