San Francesco di Paola Church was originally dedicated to San Leonardo, of whom a wooden statue still exists. In 1608 some Fathers of the order of the Minims of San Francesco di Paola came to settle in this land and began to build the convent with its church on the “Apurchiarola” plain. They had dug the pits for the buildings when they were offered the church of San Leonardo together with five ounces of annual income, which the confraternity assigned with a deed dated 13 December VI1 indiction 1608 at the notary Nicolò Facella da Ciminna, and the Archbishop of Palermo confirmed with a memorial dated 10 January VII indiction 1609. The reverend Fathers accepted the offer and, leaving the work begun, built the convent next to the church, which from then on took the name of S. Francesco di Paola and became sacramental. The date of its foundation is also evident from an ancient tombstone, which existed until recently in the former convent, and from what can be read on folio 412 of the general chronicle of the order of Minims, printed in Paris in 1635. In 1890 the church was embellished with some paintings relating to the life of San Francesco di Paola, executed by Francesco Casata, a native of Ciminna. Inside the church there are works from the 16th and 17th centuries.
