Churches & Places of Worship

Church of Santa Maria sopra le Case

The church of Santa Maria sopra le Case is located outside the town of Roccagiovine and dates back to the 16th century, but it was probably built on a previous medieval building.

The church has a small hermitage capable of hosting a small monastic community.

The interior is a single room with a wooden roof and a fresco in the altar area. The church is used to celebrate weddings.

Church of the Flagellants

The little church of the Flagellants is a small place of worship in Roccagiovine. It was obtained from a construction next to a building and the exterior merges with the inhabited center.

Inside there is a unique environment that ends with an altar and frescoes from the 14th and 17th centuries.

Church of St. Nicholas of Bari

The church of St. Nicholas of Bari is located adjacent to the castle of Roccagiovine and was probably its first chapel.

Its current form dates back to the 18th century

The facade is in neoclassical style, with an entrance door and an opening above, and ends with a stringcourse. Next to the church, continuing the facade, there is a small Romanesque stone bell tower. Both the church and the bell tower were recently renovated after the L'Aquila earthquake.

The interior has three naves with the main nave covered with an elegantly decorated barrel vault. The aisles, on the other hand, have cross vaults which can also be painted.

Inside you can admire a 16th century table depicting the Madonna dei Ronci painted by Pastura, a pupil of Perugino. The work of art had been ordered by the Orsini family to thank the Madonna for a miracle and the image is still venerated by the population as the Our Lady of Grace.

alleys of Roccagiovine

The church of Santa Maria delle Case in Roccagiovine dates of the sixteenth century.

The church has the hermit's dwelling annexed.
 

The church of the Crucifixion in Rocca di Papa dates from the late sixteenth centur.

It owes its name to a wooden beam that supports a cross pendant.

In 1747 the church collapsed due to a violent storm, destroying some houses.

The inhabitants patiently rebuilt the church in the 1850s.

The restorations were completed in 1865 with the help of the German sculptor Teodoro Achtermann.
 

The church of the Madonna del Tufo in Rocca di Papa was built following a miraculous event that occurred at the end of the fifteenth century.

A knight was walking a trail, and thanks to the intervention of the Virgin Mary which he evoked, was not hit by a large rock that had broken away from a spur.

The man built a small building around the tufa rock had it painted by the painter Antoniazzo Romano.

Over the centuries this small church was enlarged and gave rise to the sanctuary.

The facade dates from 1792 commissioned by Prince Andrea Doria-Pamphili.
 

The history of the church of the Assumption in Rocca di Papa is quite cogent. In the twelfth century the Church of the Crucifix was built here, which was converted in 1664, by Cardinal Colonna, but the work ended only in 1754. The church collapsed in an earthquake in 1806 and was rebuilt in 1817. Its last restoration was in 1944 after the damage by the bombing of World War II.
Inside there are works of art such as The Assumption of the Virgin by Corrado Giaquinto and The Redeemer attributed to Perin del Vaga.
Much venerated is the painting of Santa Maria della Pieta miraculously found intact in the rubble of the 1806 earthquake. The low dome and apse are finely decorated with stucco.
 
 

Church of Holy Mary of the Assumption

The church of Holy Mary of the Assumption - Santa Maria Assunta is among the oldest in the town and is located at the highest point of the village of Rocca Canterano and perhaps its first construction dates back to the Middle Ages.

Its current form is due to the neoclassical renovation of the seventeenth century. Today the church has a single nave covered with a totally frescoed barrel vault. Six side chapels open to the sides of the nave, probably added by Cardinal Barberini in 1673.

The nave ends with a beautiful altar with a painting depicting the Assumption and two canvases on the Last Supper by master Tito Troja from nearby Arcinazzo Romano. While above the entrance is the stage that houses the ancient organ of the church.

The church ends with a bell tower of over 40 meters which dominates the entire profile of Rocca Canterano.