The Church of St. Anthony of Padua is almost 500 metres from the village of Civitaretenga: it can be found on the way up from Navelli, at the beginning of Viale Umberto I. The building, reopened in November 2011, has the date 1480 engraved in Gothic characters above the arch of the portal, on reused stone elements. The façade is Renaissance (missing the rose window) while the interior features Baroque and Neoclassical interventions.

The frescoes in the apse area were supposed to depict various scenes from the life of the saint, but are unfortunately in a poor state of preservation.

The only one of them that is preserved in its entirety depicts St Francis of Assisi and St Anthony of Padua together.

The layout is single-nave, with a barrel vault, while the presbytery has a cross vault.

In 1498, Pope Alexander VI granted the church to the Convent of St. Francis of L'Aquila. Shortly afterwards, the adjoining convent was built, sponsored by Jacopo di Notar Nanni, a nobleman from L'Aquila originally from Civitaretenga. Restoration work has preserved inside the cloister what remained of the cycle of frescoes depicting the life of the titular saint.

Here lived a community of Friars Minor Conventual suppressed by the Napoleonic laws of 1809: the friars' garden became a municipal cemetery in 1867 and the convent a war depot with the German occupation.

The saint is still honoured on 13 June, when his statue is carried on the shoulders in procession. 

The monastery structure houses various activities, including the Hostel on the Tratturo in rooms on the first floor, a conference room and the saffron packaging workshop on the ground floor.

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