Convento dei Frati Cappuccini e Chiesa di San Francesco

Above the rooftops of Monterosso al Mare, on the hill of San Cristoforo, a community of Capuchin friars has prayed for four centuries in a convent that looks more like a watchpost than a monastery. Its plain church of San Francesco holds paintings by artists including Anthony van Dyck, Luca Cambiaso and Bernardo Strozzi. In 2014, the convent placed first in the FAI's national I Luoghi del Cuore census.

Why it matters

The convent occupies the promontory that splits Monterosso in two: the medieval borgo on one side, the modern seafront of Fegina on the other. The complex is a prominent landmark on the hill between the medieval borgo and Fegina. Its church, austere in the Capuchin manner, conserves a Crucifixion attributed to Anthony van Dyck, a penitent Saint Jerome by Luca Cambiaso and Bernardo Strozzi's La Veronica in the vaulted refectory . The friars continue to live here and celebrate the liturgy.

What to notice

The church's whitewashed single room is spare, setting off its paintings. The Crucifixion attributed to van Dyck hangs as the headline work; the attribution remains uncertain. Nearby, Luca Cambiaso's Saint Jerome Penitent is a notable example of Genoese painting. In the refectory, Bernardo Strozzi's La Veronica is set into the vault.

The convent's terrace and garden walls overlook the sea. The convent's terrace and garden walls hang over the sea, and the view runs across the bay, the promontory with the Torre Aurora, and the line of coast towards Punta Mesco. The village cemetery occupies the hilltop where the medieval castle once stood.

Context and history

Construction began in the late 1610s; the friars marked four centuries on the site in 2018. The order's history here was interrupted once: the friars were expelled under Napoleonic rule in 1810, and the convent passed out of religious hands until Don Giuseppe Policardi bought and restored the complex in 1894, returning it to the Capuchins, who have remained since.

In March 2013, heavy rain caused a large section of the seventeenth-century retaining wall to collapse, damaging the terraced garden of vines and lemon trees. The friars called the garden "the friars' paradise". The convent placed first in FAI's 2014 I Luoghi del Cuore census with 110,341 votes, and FAI subsequently helped fund restoration of the wall and garden. The convent is counted within the UNESCO World Heritage listing that covers the Cinque Terre cultural landscape, and the community today hosts retreats, celebrations and cultural initiatives, publishing its own account of four centuries of devotion in 2019.