The Church of San Francesco da Paola, known locally as the Chiesa dell’Addolorata due to its famous wooden statue that inspires popular devotion, is situated on the central Piazza Rossetti.
Its beautiful Neoclassical façade, designed in the mid-19th century by architect Silvestro Benedetti, features two orders of pilasters that resemble semi-columns supporting the pediment. A central stained-glass window depicts San Francesco da Paola. To the left of the façade stands the Palazzo Benedetti, a former convent of the Paolotti friars, restored during the same period as the church’s façade construction.
Despite its current appearance, the church’s history dates back to the early medieval period. At that time, outside the fortified nucleus of Guasto d’Aymone, there was a monastery dedicated to Saint Stephen, referred to as “Santo Stefano in Parolascio”. The term Parolascio comes from the Lombard language and likely referred to the nearby amphitheater where the monastery was located.
In the late Middle Ages, the area, still outside the city walls, was known as the Contrada dei Guarlati, possibly a distorted form of the earlier name. The district housed two chapels: one dedicated to San Rocco and the other to Santa Maria. The latter contained an icon of the Madonna dei Guarlati, which attracted great devotion from the locals and served as a prominent burial site.
In 1611, both chapels were demolished to make way for the Monastery of the Minims of San Francesco da Paola. Along with the monastery, a new church was constructed, and the fresco of Santa Maria dei Guarlati was relocated to a dedicated chapel within it.
The devotion to what locals also called Santa Maria dei Miracoli continued in the following decades. Marquis Cesare Michelangelo d’Avalos was particularly devoted to this figure. He funded the restoration of the church and enriched it with works by various artists. The marquis placed his family’s coat of arms above the church’s entrance, where it remains visible today. He also moved the fresco of the revered Madonna dei Guarlati to the area above the main altar and requested to be buried behind it upon his death in 1729.
In 1770, the convent was suppressed, and the building was purchased by the Benedetti family, who converted it into private residences. The church was reopened in the mid-19th century, and in 1856 it became the new home of the Confraternita della Carità e della Morte, previously housed in the Church of San Giuseppe.
Today, the interior of the Church of San Francesco da Paola is relatively simple, reflecting its Neoclassical restoration.
The church’s most notable features are its numerous 17th- and 18th-century paintings, including The Madonna of the Veil from the school of Bernardino Luini, San Carlo Borromeo by Nicola Maria Russo, San Rocco by Filippo Andreola, and Santa Lucia by Vasto’s own Giovan Battista De Litiis. The painting of San Francesco da Paola is an anonymous work from the 17th century.
To the left of the presbytery is the chapel of the confraternity, which houses the exquisite wooden Pietà attributed to Giacomo Colombo, a Neapolitan sculptor active in the early 18th century. The Madonna Addolorata (Our Lady of Sorrows) is a focal point of popular devotion, particularly during the solemn Holy Saturday procession, when members of the confraternity carry her statue through the streets of the city.
