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Church of the Most Holy Crucifix in Rocca di Papa: The Village's First Church Saved by a German Sculptor
The Church of the Santissimo Crocifisso is the oldest religious building in Rocca di Papa, built in the 12th century in the medieval quarter, a few steps from the parish church of the Assumption. Its history is a series of disasters and rebirths. In 1557 a devastating fire killed more than 50 people and ravaged the church. Ascanio Colonna had it rebuilt, on a larger scale: three naves, three pillars per side, three chapels. In 1613 St Charles Borromeo was proclaimed patron saint: the Colonna family cared deeply, because Don Fabrizio had married Anna Borromeo, the saint's sister.
The Collapse and the Sculptor from Münster
Over time, the church was stripped of its furnishings, which were moved to the new parish church, and abandoned. On 11 September 1747 it collapsed during a storm, bringing down about ten houses with it. It remained in ruins for over a century, but was saved by Theodor Wilhelm Achtermann (1799-1884), a German sculptor from Münster who lived in Rome and frequented Rocca di Papa. He financed the reconstruction, and in 1865 reopened the church, donating his plaster works: a life-size Madonna and Child, an Ecce Homo, a Crucifixion group inspired by the model in St Vitus Cathedral in Prague, and a Deposition. In 1871 he also built the chaplain's house.
