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Capuchin Convent in Monterotondo: from St Crispin to Garibaldi
The Convent of the Friars Minor Capuchin stands on a hill in the district that bears its name. The Capuchin presence in Monterotondo dates back to 1542, when a man named Evangelista sold a vineyard to the Orsini family for the friars in the San Salvatore district. In 1605, construction of a new complex in the San Restituto area was approved. Work got under way in 1609, based on a design by Milanese master Antonio Del Grande, funded by the Community of Monterotondo.
St Crispin and the miracle-working friars
From 1703 to 1709, St Crispin of Viterbo lived here. He was a mendicant friar and gardener who became famous for his miracles and popular aphorisms. He was eventually canonised by John Paul II in 1982. On October 6, 1853, Pope Pius IX stopped for lunch with the Capuchins, who planted a large pine tree in the garden to mark the occasion.
Garibaldi and the chipped portal
The convent was a key site during the Risorgimento campaigns: Giuseppe Garibaldi chose it as his operating base in both 1849 and 1867. On the church portal, a gash can still be seen, traditionally attributed to a cannonball fired by papal troops from Palazzo Piombino against the Garibaldian volunteers camped in the cloister. In 1884, the Capuchins opened here the first Seraphic Seminary of the Latium region. The church, also known as the Church of St Francis of Assisi, houses canvases from the 16th and 17th centuries. In the garden, there is a marble sculpture of the Poverello by Friar Remo Rapone, while the sacristy features a sundial with zodiac signs painted on the vault.
