GROTTAMMARE

The itinerary that takes us to visit and learn about the Franciscan Convents in the Ascoli Piceno area leads us to Grottammare, home to a single Franciscan Convent. This convent is notable for its beauty, location, elegant architectural structure, and constant testament to the spiritual connection between the people of this city and the Friars Minor. In the early 1600s, the Friars Minor established their permanent presence in this city, famous for being the birthplace of the Franciscan Pope Sixtus V, also known as Father Felice Peretti (1521-1590). However, until a few years after his death, there was no Franciscan presence within its territory.

To erect the new Convent and Church, a site was chosen where a small church was dedicated to “Madonna dei Monti” with the intention of transforming it into a church suitable for the future Convent. On July 14, 1614, Father Nicolò from Monteprandone and Father Pacifico from Ripatransone, delegates from the Provincial Authorities, took possession of the land in the presence of the Vicar General of the Diocesan Bishop and representatives of the town. According to tradition, a cross was raised on the site. After being suppressed in the 19th century, the Convent was reacquired in 1935, thanks to the efforts of Father Ferdinando Parri, the Provincial Minister. Today, following the earthquake of 2016, it is undergoing complete restoration and reconstruction.

The new and larger church was built simultaneously with the Convent in 1614. It was modified in the mid-18th century in the parts that remained after a fire. These modifications were further altered in the 1950s and 1960s. The church has a vaulted ceiling from the mid-19th century and houses several works of art.

From a handwritten report titled “La Provincia riformata delle Marche nel 1837” we learn: “In the upper part of the choir, in the middle, within a specially adorned niche on the exterior with four stucco Geni, as well as a gilded frame, the Image of Mary, to whom the Church is dedicated, stands in the wall with the Divine Son in her arms; this is the main altar. In the first side altar to the Gospel side [i.e., to the left], known as that of St. Nicholas of Bari, erected at the expense of sailors, there are the figures of St. Nicholas, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Peter of Alcantara, and St. Paschal Baylon [this canvas is no longer traceable]”. (La Provincia Riformata delle Marche nel 1837. 15. Grotte a Mare – Li Monti, in Picenum Seraphicum, 3(1917) 416-417).

Moving to the present day, we find the oval with the ancient central fresco on the apse, namely, the Madonna con il Bambino or S. Maria dei Monti, the patroness of the Church and the Convent. This fresco is attributed to Jacopo Pacchiarotti from Siena (1474-1540), a student of Perugino. The fresco already existed, according to the Chronicle of 1837, in the small church that existed when the friars built the new church in 1614. Surrounding the oval with the fresco of the Blessed Virgin Mary are four stucco angels, with two additional ones above the upper lunette. The two angels in the upper part of the oval hold a cartouche with the inscription “Divae Mariae Montium”. On the first altar to the right, starting from the entrance, there is a canvas depicting saints identified as St. Anthony Abbot (in a partly traditional iconography, holding the Gospel book and fire, and partly unique, dressed as a Bishop with a cope and pastoral staff), St. James of the Marches of Monteprandone, St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, and St. Diego of Alcalá. This work, dated 1780, is by Nicola Antonio Monti (1736-1795), the most important painter from Ascoli in the 18th century (C. CIOCIOLA, Nicola Monti 1736-1795, Fas Editore, Ascoli Piceno, 2014, 80). The work is signed with the inscription: “NICOLA MONTI DI ASCOLI / INV. ET PIN. ANNO DO. 1780.” Above the canvas, within a stucco frame, there is the inscription “Agricola expectat praetiosum fructum Iacob: Cap: V: vv: VII:”, which is a reference to the Letter of James 5:7, as the altar and the painting were erected by a congregation of farmers (La Provincia riformata delle Marche nel 1837, 15. - Grotte a Mare – Li Monti, in Picenum Seraphicum 3(1917) 414- 424, qui 417). The work was restored in 1997.

In a niche between the two altars, you can admire the Madonna della Pace (1979), a wooden sculpture created by Francesco Santori, a local sculptor. He is also the author of the new wooden high altar (1983), with four columns at the base representing the symbols of the four evangelists. The original ancient altar, closed toward the choir and later destroyed, was rebuilt in Roman style, i.e., open toward the choir. It was demolished by the friars and replaced with a marble one on June 12, 1964, which, in turn, was replaced in 1983 with the current one.

Higher up, still between the two left side altars as you enter from the main door, there is a highly valuable painting representing St. Francis, attributed to the school of Guercino from Cento (1591-1666).

Continuing on the right side, you’ll find another altar with a canvas depicting the Madonna del Suffragio con San Nicola da Tolentino interceding for the souls in purgatory. This painting is by the Fermano painter Alessandro Ricci (1750-1829) and originally came from the S. Pio V church in Grottammare. It was located in the altar of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, supported by the Ravenna family (as attested by Bishop Filippo Monacelli during his pastoral visit on May 3-12, 1827, and the inscription at the base of the canvas: “ALEXANDER RICCI PINXIT FIRMI 1807 / PIETATE DD. FRATRUM JOSEPHI ET FRANCISCI RAVENNA”

(S. PAPETTI-M. PAPETTI (a cura di), Filippo e Alessandro Ricci. Pittori nella Marca del Settecento, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Fermo, Fermo, 2009, 109-110). The canvas was transferred to the Convent of S. Maria dei Monti in the mid-20th century and placed in this altar around 1998. The canvas was certainly not originally part of this altar, as the stucco frame does not match the frame of the painting. Above the canvas, there is the inscription “Et macula originalis non est in te”, indicating that this altar, like all Franciscan churches, contained a canvas or statue of the Immaculate Conception.

Continuing and turning to the left side of the church, you will find the painting by Nicola Monti depicting the Madonna con il Bambino e Anna, S. Francesco d’Assisi, S. Chiara di Assisi (co-founder of the Poor Clares), and S. Luigi IX di Francia (Patron of the Third Order Franciscans, i.e., the Secular Franciscan Order), dating back to 1780 and also by the 18th-century Ascoli painter Nicola Monti. Above the canvas is the inscription “Seraphico Francischo Ord. Min. Fundatori Fratres et Sorores eiusdem Ordinis DOM”. Antique descriptions, instead of St. Clare, state that the saint represented is St. Elizabeth of Hungary, but the iconography characteristics suggest that it is more likely St. Clare, as she was the co-founder of the Second Order, the Poor Sisters of St. Clare or Clarisses. Otherwise, it would be puzzling why St. Louis, who was a king, is dressed in royal attire while Elizabeth, who was a queen, is depicted in Clarisse nun’s attire. Furthermore, the dedication of the altar and the canvas states that it is dedicated to St. Francis by the “Fratres et Sorores eiusdem Ordinis”, i.e., the Brothers and Sisters of his Order. Therefore, the term “Order” should be understood as encompassing all three Orders, thus including the Clarisses, i.e., the Second Order, which is represented here.

This altar originally had a different painting by Nicola Monti and a different dedication. According to the report on the Grottammare Convent from 1837, it is said that “In the first side altar on the Gospel side, dedicated to St. Nicholas of Bari, erected at the expense of sailors, there is the figure of the same saint together with those of St. Anthony of Padua, St. Peter of Alcantara, and St. Paschal Baylon” (La Provincia riformata delle Marche nel 1837, in Picenum Seraphicum 3(1917) 15. - Grotte a Mare – Li Monti, 414-415). The painting is currently dispersed, and its current location is unknown. Immediately after the altar, at the top, there is a work depicting a Pietà, presumably a print copy of the Compianto sul Cristo Morto by Antoon Van Dyck. Below the Lamentation painting is a plaque marking the burial place of Father Ferdinando Parri, who played a significant role, as we have seen, in the repurchase of the Convent in 1937. He was laid to rest here in 1987.

Moving toward the back of the church, there is the second altar, within which a precious Crucifix is placed inside a niche. Before the recent changes, it was prominently displayed at the center of the high altar, as can be seen in historical photos. Above the niche with the crucifix, there is the inscription “Qui factus est nobis sapientia a Deo et iustitia et sanctificatio et redemptio: Corinth: cap: I: vv: 30:”, which is 1 Corinthians 1:30.

On the left side of the presbytery, in a niche resting near the floor, you will find the tomb of the Servant of God Lavinia Sernardi, born in Grottammare on June 2, 1588, and died in holiness at the age of 35 on the night between September 14 and 15, 1623. Above her tomb, there is a painting depicting her.

On the right side of the presbytery, at eye level, you will find the relics of St. Aureliano, a Roman martyr.

Along the walls of the nave, there are the Stations of the Via Crucis, the work of the local sculptor Ubaldo Ferretti (1954-2010). The same author created the bronze-decorated cement slabs in the lunettes of the cloister, representing episodes from the life of St. Francis, as well as those in the refectory with subjects from the Canticle of Brother Sun and the large panels or slabs under the arches of the portico against the external wall of the apse, depicting the fundamental mysteries of the life of Christ, dating from 1985.

In the cloister, built together with the church in 1614, there were frescoes in the niches, created by the Observant Minor Friar fr. Lorenzo Bonomi of Ripatransone (1603-1666), depicting episodes from the life of St. Francis. Bonomi left his signature in a lunette: “Fra Laurentius Bonom Ripanus pinx 1645” (A. RICCI, Memorie storiche delle arti e degli artisti della Marca di Ancona, vol. 2, Macerata, 1834, 289 e 300 nota 10). Fragments of frescoes also appear in the refectory, and it is likely that there were Gospel scenes on the two end walls, as is customary. It is unclear why these frescoes were covered by the new slabs, but it is likely because they were in poor condition. During the restoration works of the cloister and the entire Convent in 2022, a fragment of a crucifixion inside a niche reappeared, which is the only testimony of this painter and does not seem to be of mediocre value. In 1981, the cloister and the portico were closed with glass windows. In 1982, the vaults and columns of the portico were sandblasted.

The church was equipped with an organ, as evident from the empty choir loft, and the most important object in it, the organ by the famous Venetian organ builder Gaetano Callido (Este 1727-Venice 1813), a disciple of the renowned Pietro Nacchini of Bulić, Croatia, in the Diocese of Skradin, a former Observant Minor Friar known as fr. Paolo of Sebenico. Callido built the organ in 1784 (cfr. G. SPAZIANI, Gli organi antichi di Grottammare, Stamperia dell’arancio, Grottammare, 1997, 51-59), numbered as “op. 206 in the catalog ‘206. Grotte a Mare P: Reformati’” (Ibidem 57). It was moved, along with the confessionals, to the S. Pio V church after 1864, following the suppression of religious orders.

This is the rich historical and artistic heritage of the Convent of S. Maria dei Monti in Grottammare, awaiting the completion of restoration works to be returned in all its magnificence and splendor, yet in its simplicity, to worship, devotion, the life of the friars, and the prayers of the people deeply connected to it.