Il Conventino di Jacopone (Jacopone’s “Little Convent”)
This is a small but very significant convent in the life of Saint Francis and his followers. The building, which stands in the countryside between Guardea and Baschi, was erected thanks to the Counts of Baschi whose heirs were fighting among themselves. Saint Francis reconciled them and for this reason the Counts built the “Little Convent” on their land for the Saint and his monks. There are numerous Franciscan testimonies: the Grotta, the Elce, the Spring and the Tiber rock, from which the saint preached to the fish according to popular legend. But the Pantanelli Convent is also closely connected to another important figure, that of Iacopone da Todi. He who was to become one of the fathers of Italian poetry, on the death of his wife in 1268 had a profound mystical crisis which led him to a radical choice: donate all his worldly possessions to the poor and live as a minor monk in this convent for a long period. From Baschi or from Guardea, along the Amerino road, follow the road signs.

The Hut and the Chapel of the Ideal City
The “Scarzuola” Convent, most probably, takes its name from a hut made from “scarza”, that is reeds: the first settlement of this sacred place, situated between Mount Gabbione and Mount Giove. Already in 1218, however, the constructions were of bricks and mortar, founded by the family of the Counts of Marsciano and donated to the Franciscans. The convent was extended towards the end of the 14th century by the beato Paoluccio Trinci.
Scarzuola is connected to several testimonies of St. Francis or to his devotion: the octagonal chapel, standing to the right of the choir stand and indicated as oratory since Franciscan times; a spring close to the convent which is said to have sprung up on Francis’ orders, as tradition also dictates that it was the Saint who planted a laurel tree in the convent garden, of which, today, remain just a few shoots, and is said to possess miraculous effects. Over the past decades, next to the Convent, the Architect Tommaso Buzi has built a fascinating structure of “the ideal city” rich with fantastic allusions and symbolic meanings. Visits by appointment. The locality can be reached from the Autosole Highway (Fabro Exit) towards Montegabbione, then Montegiove and then following the road signs for “La Scarzuola”.