La Foresta – Franciscan Sanctuary

Four kilometers from Rieti and at 520 meters above sea level, it is a Sanctuary in which San Francesco (St. Francis) stayed in 1225 while going to Rieti on the invitation of Cardinal Ugolino to cure his eyes. Tradition says that, while he was a guest of deacon S. Fabiano, the masses rushed to see him and trampled on the vineyard, destroying it; but, according to tradition, the Saint made a miracle happen by making the vineyard have an abundant harvest.
According to another tradition, the Saint composed the "Song of Brother Sun" here.
Along the arrival street, there is a row of kiosks in which there are beautiful polychrome majolicas from the century before the Neopolitan School representing the stations of Via Crucis.
Actually, the structure is home to the community of Mondo X, who cares for the maintenance both of the buildings and the surrounding land as well as to accompany visitors.
You visit the little 13th-church, with frescoes from the beginning of the 14th-century, enlarged in the 17th century; in the rostrum there is a wooden choir engraved 17th century.