On the hill called Poggio del Massaro, there is the monastery and the church of Santa Chiara. On May 27, 1333, the pontifical authority granted the Provincial Minister of Rome, Fra Tommaso di Acquapendente, the possibility of building the monastery to make it the seat of the community of the Poor Clares.
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Parish Rose Garden of S. Chiara Icon of the Immaculate Conception – Piazza Santa Chiara, 12
CHURCH AND MONASTERY OF SANTA CHIARA
THE HISTORY
On the hill called Poggio del Massaro, there is the monastery and the church of Santa Chiara. On May 27, 1333, the pontifical authority granted the Provincial Minister of Rome, Fra Tommaso di Acquapendente, the possibility of building the monastery to make it the seat of the community of the Poor Clares. The Napoleonic troops, passing through Acquapendente, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, removed the nuns to transform the Convent into a barracks; only in 1815 the Poor Clares were able to settle again. In 1870 the real estate of the monastery was confiscated by the Italian state, but at the beginning of the twentieth century five nuns bought the monastery complex from the Municipality of Acquapendente, which was then recognized, with DPR June 18, 1952, the legal personality.
DESCRIPTION
The architectural layout of the entire complex was at least initially of a medieval type. However, following the extraordinary restoration work on the facade and the interior of the church dedicated to Santa Chiara, on November 9, 1970, the building was reopened for worship, with a plastered gabled facade, modern in appearance, in stark contrast. with the Convent, still typically medieval. In the rooms of the Convent there are two paintings representing the Immaculate Conception: the first, dated 1674, depicts the Virgin according to traditional iconography, with the resumption, after the Counter-Reformation period, of the image of the Madonna of the Apocalypse crowned by twelve stars; the second, highlights the dogmatic and conceptual character. Both canvases are by anonymous authors, of the late Baroque school, and in a bad state of conservation.
ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
AA.VV. Acquapendente e il suo territorio. Regione Lazio, Assessorato alla Cultura, Spettacolo, Sport e Turismo. Direzione regionale cultura, sport e turismo, area valorizzazione del territorio e del patrimonio culturale. Avellino 2004.
Biondi P., Le origini del comune di Acquapendente e la Madonna del Fiore, Acquapendente 1966;
Lise G., Acquapendente. Storia. Arte. Figure. Tradizioni, Acquapendente 1971.
Acquapendente Artecittà, Chiesa e Monastero di Santa Chiara.
