San Giovanni Battista (1607)
Giovanni Battista Pontani left money in his will for the establishment of a Cistercian monastery here in 1607.
The new monks belonged to the Congregazione Fogliante, which had been
formed in France in 1563 and which became known in Italy as the
Congregazione dei Riformati di San Bernardo. [Were they called "i Padri Zocchetti" (wearers of clogs)??] At some point, the monks
changed the dedication of their church as San Bernardo. By the time of
the suppression of the monastery in 1798, it housed only a single monk.
In 1801, Pope Pius VII grouped a number of the surviving Cistercian communities in the Papal States into a revived Congregazione di San Bernardo. The new congregation took over this complex, which they re-dedicated it as San Giovanni Battista. The Abbazia di Santa Maria di Valdiponte became part of the new congregation and took over and united San Bernardo, which they re-opened and re-dedicated it as San Giovanni Battista; and the residual Cistercian community at San Paolo di Valdiponte.
The congregation was suppressed during the Napoleonic occupation, but revived in 1814. It was suppressed again, this time definitively, in
1871.
At this point, the complex was redeveloped as public offices and
the piazza acquired its current name. The complex now houses the Department of
Linguistic Science of the University and the Regional Treasury.
Return to Walk III.