The monastery of San Luca was built in the 15th century on the former monastery of San Lazzaro, which has been present in the city since the beginning of the 13th century and disappeared with the plague of 1413. In 1861, the monastery was taken out of service and transformed into military housing and, later, into the Carabinieri barracks.
The history of this building as a chapel dates back to 1651. It is here that Brother Bonaventura de Potenza (1651-1711) was born, beatified in 1775. After Bonaventura's death, the building was used for private purposes for a long time until the early 20th century, when Bishop Tiberio Durante decided to transform it into a place of worship.
The first building of Potenza Cathedral was probably built on a pre-existing building from Roman times. This early Christian church existed since the 6th century. It was replaced by a Romanesque church at the end of the 12th century, itself rebuilt between 1783 and 1799 in neoclassical style. Numerous earthquakes (in 1857, 1930 and 1980) led to the restoration of the cathedral.
The church of St. Francis was built with a convent in the 13th century, forty years after the saint's death (1181- 1226). The convent of San Francesco became an important spiritual centre in the 17th and 18th centuries. The wing of the former convent, transformed into a court of law, was burned down in 1912.
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