Casa Maritale di Santa Rita

Why it matters

The Casa Maritale in Roccaporena is associated with the married life of Rita of Cascia and her husband Paolo Mancini. In the seventeenth century, the former house was transformed into a chapel, reflecting the growth of devotion to Rita and the development of her public cult.

What to notice

The building preserves the plan of a modest rural house, with a ground-floor kitchen and an upper floor reached by an external stone staircase. Its conversion to a chapel altered the original walls and interior. The altar has an oil painting of Santa Rita attributed to Giordano, and frescoes attributed to Micheletti. A 1941 restoration by architect Della Piana exposed parts of the original side walls.

Context and history

According to the official biography, Margherita Lotti married Paolo di Ferdinando di Mancino around 1397 and had two sons. Paolo was murdered near the family mill around 1406. Seventeenth-century sources record the transformation of the married home into a chapel. The attribution and exact date of the conversion vary among local accounts, so the available record does not support a single definitive version.