Sacro Speco di San Francesco

Why it matters

The Sacro Speco near Sant'Urbano is associated with Francis of Assisi and the early Franciscan history of the Nera valley. Hermits settled at the site around the year 1000, where a cave and chapel formed an early place of prayer. Francis is traditionally said to have visited in 1213.

What to notice

The complex includes the Oratorio di San Silvestro, with fourteenth-century frescoes of the Crucifixion and saints, a fifteenth-century cloister and a church built between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. A grotto is associated with Francis's prayer. Local tradition also links the site to a well and a miracle in which water became wine, and to a chestnut tree said to have grown from the saint's staff.

Context and history

The story of the water-to-wine miracle appears in Thomas of Celano's account of Francis's illness at the hermitage of Sant'Urbano. The Franciscan community later consolidated around the shrine. The site preserves memories of friars including Blessed Giovanni Bonvisi of Lucca and Pietro da Rieti. Its history includes periods of closure and renewed Franciscan presence in the twentieth century.