Santuario del Volto Santo

The convent that towers over Manoppello is the result of a succession of works carried on from 1848 to1965, which have utterly altered the original state of the church where the Franciscan friars had settled in 1620. The façade, with its white and pink stones, bears a resemblance to the church of Collemaggio. The only extant evidence of the seventeenth century is the chapel on the right side of the choir, built in 1686, where the "Holy Face" was preserved. According to Father Donato from Bomba's account, dated 1640/45, the holy cloth on which an image of Christ's face is impressed (it is thought to be the so called "Veronica") arrived in 1506, when a mysterious pilgrim handed it over to Mr. Giacomantoio Leonelli. Then it passed to the De Fabritiis family and in 1638 a member of it, Donatantonio, donated the sacred image to the Franciscan convent founded a short time before.