Included in the Palace of the Caracciolo family on the main street of the historical center of Villa Santa Maria, the Chapel dedicated expressly to the cult of San Francesco Caracciolo was made in 1839 by the will of a descending of the Saint. It is known that the noble Caracciolo family was for long, feudal of the town and it was born in 1563, right at Villa Santa Maria, that Francesco, founder of the Regular Minor Clerics, which with his exemplary life earned the halo of sanctity. According to the tradition the Saint had lived, attacked by leprosy, in those same structures that were then transformed in a Church open to the public.
Precisely because of this particular genisis, the Church does not have a autonomous structure, but it is incorporated in the ground floor of the Palace; however it is easily identifiable thanks to the portal that overlooks the adjacent street, a portal structured in stone, surmounted by an arch in the bezel which contains the effigy of an half-length portrait of the titular Saint. The internal floor of the Chapel is situated at a few meters lower respect the street level. Its plant consists of a square hall preceded by an entrance area and ending in a apse, both rectangular. The coverage of the hall is a shell grafted into plumes, while the other areas have barrel vaults with lunettes. In the bottom part, within a large frame, is placed a painting that represents San Francesco.