In the oldest franciscan literature is written that one day Saint Francesco was preaching to the Trevani in the place where now is the convent.  An ass got restive and started to disturb the people listening to the Saint. “Frate asino, sta in quiete et dimitte me praedicare populo…” (brother ass, be quiet and let me preach to the people). In this way Saint Francesco talked to the ass: and the ass kneeled with the head between its legs and began to listen to the Saint’s words.

To celebrate and hand down the memory of this miracle, the Trevani built the convent. This episode is refigured in a side panel on the right of the S. Francesco altar, in the homonymous church and, by Gagliardi, in the convent cloister to. The Franciscan presence in Trevi is testified by a document dated 26/06/1258 in which the Pope Alessandro IV commanded the Guardian Friar to absolve the Trevani from the excommunication, obtained for the help given to Perugia in its revolt against the Santa Sede. During the French invasion the Friars were driven away and the goods  of the convent sold. The Friars never came back, not even after the Restoration. After the 1832 earthquake, that caused many damages in Trevi and especially to the  Lucarini college, the city council entrusted Valadier to turn the convent into a school. He succeeded in just 18 months and the  Lucarini  school moved there on October the 26, 1934. In 1893 the school was put under the care of the Salesiani Friars , who left it in 1963, year in which the “Media Unica” was instituted there. Nowadays the building hosts the Saint Francesco Museum and the museum of the Civiltà dell’Olio (oil culture).

A seguito dell'apertura della Raccolta d'Arte di S. Francesco, si può accedere alla chiesa e al convento direttamente dal Museo.

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