“Si fondò su d’un amenissimo colle, contiguo alla Terra di Monterosso”
(Annali dei Padri Cappuccini – 1744)
In February 20th 1618 the Cappuccini Friars (Father Clemente from Castelletto in person) placed the cross – which had been given to them by the Monterosso Parlament – on the lands of the Castello and Buranco areas; the building of the monastery started the year after and the Friars moved in on 28th March 1622. The actual building was made of twelve small rooms plus the community areas, with terraced vegetable gardens, one church and the parvis. On 23rd May 1623 Bishop GioBatta Salvago consacrated the Church after the name of the Holy Virgin and of San Frances of Assisi. The building work lasted from 1620 till 1640 and the monastery hosted between eight and ten people. The Friars have always taken a close interest in the activities of the village to which they lent both spiritual and material assistance. During the XIX century, in spite of the disapproval of the population, the monastery was shut down due to Napoleonic laws: the order came in January 1810 when inside the religious building there were also many Friars native of Monterosso, some of them could keep living in the village and looking after the Church. In May 1816 a portion of the monastery was given to the Friars. Unfortunately, the claustral peace only lasted about fifty years: in 1867 the whole building was closed again having to obey to the Savoyard laws. In order to avoid the falling apart of it all, the vegetable gardens were bought by Pietro Benvenuto from Monterosso and the monastery was bought by rev. Giuseppe Pollicardo, also from Monterosso, who decided to move in with the intention of bringing back the Friars. The place was eventually re-opened in 1895 by the same congregation that had started it.
In the historical vegetable gardens lemon trees were grown as well as all sorts of vegetables and fruit trees and also vineyards. In the last decade of the XX century, the congregation closed the monastery for lack of friars and so the building was run by another society. That was a sad period for the entire Monterosso community which felt of being deprived of its own monastery which lost all its religious functions. Fortunately, since 2006 the church has been open again and can be visited with great joy of all citinzens of Monterosso and all the tourists who come from all over the world. Thanks to Father Renato Brenz Verca, the convent carries out a spirituality project open to everybody. In the convent, social, cultural and educational activities are also organized. Furthermore, in 2014 the convent was elected as the Most beloved place in Italy in a competition “I luoghi del cuore”, a census, organized by FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano)
