Built between 1733 and 1737 beside the mother house of the Passionists on Monte Argentario, a novitiate and church that John Paul II stopped to pray in, unannounced, in December 2000.
At a glance
- Type
- Novitiate and church
- Where
- Monte Argentario, Province of Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy
- Coordinates
- 42.4176194° N, 11.1536872° E
- Built
- 1733-1737
- Papal visit
- 12 December 2000, John Paul II
Overview
The Passionist novitiate stands near the complex that forms the mother house of the congregation, on Monte Argentario in the Province of Grosseto. It is made up of a conventual part and a church.
The archive entry describes it as a stronghold of the eighteenth century which allowed the order to hold out against raids, malaria and plague.
History
Building began in 1733 and was completed in 1737.
On 12 December 2000, unannounced and to the astonishment of the religious present, Pope John Paul II stopped to pray in the convent church.
The place was also much loved by Susanna Agnelli, mayor of Monte Argentario from 1974 to 1984, who asked that her own funeral be held here. «I used to walk in the evening, when work at the town hall was over, before going back to my solitary house», she wrote. «I knew that up there, among the woods, I had someone who was my friend… Now, when I come back to the Argentario, I no longer go down to the harbour, but up to the Monte, to the little church.»
What you see
The image known as the Madonna di Monte Argentario, of the Roman school of the eighteenth century, is much venerated. On the altar of the right transept is an eighteenth-century canvas of the Magdalen; on the left altar a St Michael, a copy of Guido Reni’s painting in the church of the Capuchins in Rome.
In the crypt stand a travertine statue of the founder of the order and a travertine relief of St Paul of the Cross landing on the Argentario. Inside the church is a bronze urn with the remains of the young Passionist, the venerable Galileo Nicolini, by the sculptor Tito Amodei.
Practical information
- Address: Via Panoramica 1, 58019 Monte Argentario (GR), Tuscany.
- It is a religious house: times of opening follow the community’s life.
Sources
- Cultural Heritage Online historical archive — original Italian entry (beniculturalionline.it), transposed and corrected 2026.
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