Monastero di Sant’ Anna

or delle Contesse (ca. 1390)



The earliest surviving record of this nunnery (to the left of the later church in the illustration above) is in a will of 1394, in which it is referred to as the Monastero delle Contesse, no doubt because of the noble extraction of its inhabitants.  The will also records that it had been founded by the Blessed Paoluccio de' Trinci.  He sponsored a community of women who lived here as Franciscan tertiaries and worshiped at San Francesco.  They chose their spiritual advisers from the reform-minded friars: from 1415 these came from San Bartolomeo di Marano.

Angelina da Montegiove

One of the original women at Sant' Anna was Francesca. the daughter of Giacomo di Binolo da Montegiove and widow of Trincia di Rinalduccio de' Trinci.  When her two brothers died during an epidemic of plague in 1394, she was joined by Angelina da Montegiove, her only surviving sibling, who was then aged about 40.  Angelina is first recorded as a "professa" of the community in a will dated 1400 and subsequently became its leader. 

Although similar lay communities were springing up across central Italy, their  status was unclear because the sisters did not observe clausura.  However, Angelina secured approval of the way of life of the sisters at Sant' Anna from Pope Boniface IX in 1403, no doubt helped by her Trinci relatives.

Angelina's achievement offered a route to legitimacy for similar female communities in central Italy, and Sant' Anna became the centre of a federation of a group of them that included establishments in Assisi (Monastero delle San Quirico), Todi (Monastero delle Lucrezie) and Perugia (Sant’ Antonio da Padova).  In 1428, Pope Martin V approved the union of these communities as a Congregation, with Angelina as its first Minister General.  (The Bull was addressed to Sister Angelina and (inter alia) Sister Caterina of San Giovanni Battista, Todi and Sister Tommasa of San Quirico, Assisi.)

Life became difficult for Angelina in 1430 when the Observant Franciscans of Foligno imposed strict enclosure on the Congregation, a move that Angelina was unable to resist.  She was deposed for a short period but was able to resume her post after she formally revoked the obedience that she had promised to the Franciscan Order. 

Angelina died in 1435 and was buried in San Francesco (as was usual for the sisters at Sant' Anna).  The Congregation that she had founded was dissolved in 1461, and Sant’ Anna continued as an independent foundation.

Later History

The conflict with the Observant Franciscans over clausura intensified in 1484 and the Commune was forced to intervene.  They invited a community of Amadeiti Fathers to come to the city in order to assume spiritual responsibility for Sant' Anna and gave them the complex at San Feliciano di Mormonzone, near Sant' Eraclio.  The arrangement seems to have lasted until ca. 1520, when the sisters were once more subjected to the Observants.  They nevertheless managed to avoid clausura until 1615,when the papacy imposed on all monasteries of women.   (This restriction was finally lifted in 1903).

The most important member of the community in the 16th century was probably Sister Anna de’ Conti, who was recorded as the “Ministra” of the community in 1557 again in 1578.  She was the niece of the papal secretary, Sigismondo de' Conti and a considerable heiress.  Much of the expansion and decoration of the nunnery in the 16th century derives from her largesse.   For example, the nuns acquired the so-called Casa dell' Alunno in ca. 1549 and converted into the infirmary.

Sister Anna de’ Conti inherited the Madonna di Foligno (ca. 1511), which her uncle, Sigismondo de' Conti had ommissioned from Raphael for the high altar of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome.  She arranged for the altarpiece to Sant' Anna in 1565.  It was initially in the nuns' choir but was moved later in the 16th century to the high altar of their external church.  (For more details see "Art from the Complex" below).  This church was rebuilt in 1729.

In 1915, it became the mother-house of the restructured Congregation of Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Blessed Angelina.  It is possible to stay in their guest wing (which is in the Casa dell' Alunno), details of which are in their website.  Alternatively, ring 0742 342 688 to arrange a visit, which includes the three rooms in the Casa dell' Alunno that contain the artist's frescoes and graffiti.

Entrance Courtyard 

Madonna and Child with saints (after 1481)

This fresco, which is attributed to Pierantonio Mezzastris, is above the entrance to the nunnery (on the right in the illustration above).  It was financed from the will (1481) of Elena, the widow of Filippo di Ser Andrea Varini.  It depicts the Madonna and Child enthroned with St Anna and the Blessed Angelina, below a cornice with angels throwing flower petals.  Unfortunately, the lower part has been lost.

Chiostro Verde

The door on the right in the illustration above leads to the first cloister.  The monochrome frescoes (1518) in the upper register of the walls around it (which are dated by inscription) depict scenes from the lived of Jesus and the Virgin. 


[Note the unusual iconography used in thr Circumcision of Jesus, in which the Virgin and her companions perform the operation.]

Chiostro della Cisterna


The door in the back wall (illustrated above, to the right) leads to the Casa dell' Alunno, which (as noted above) the nuns acquired in ca. 1549 and converted into the infirmary.  Its  lintel bears the inscription:

Infirmus fui et visitastis me

A DI XX otobr(e) MDXLIX

S. An. de' Conti fecit fare

(I was sick and you visited me.  Sister Anna de' Conti built me in October, 1549)

Frescoes (early 16th century)

The frescoes to the left on the back wall (illustrated above) depict:

  • St Helena;

  • St Anne blessing the Blessed Angelina and another sister; and

  • St Bernardino of Siena.


Stigmatisation of St Francis (1487)

This fresco to the right of those above, which is attributed to Pierantonio Mezzastris,  is dated by an inscription on the campanile.

Pietà with angels (early 16th century)

This fresco over the portal is attributed to Lattanzio di Nicolo.

St Felician (early 16th century)

This fresco on the right wall depicts St Felician enthroned, with two kneeling penitents:

  • the Blessed Peter Crisci; and

  • the Blessed Tomasuccio.



Oratory of Blessed Angelina

This is the oldest part of the nunnery.

Crucifixion (early 15th century)

This fresco on the altar wall depicts the crucifixion with the Virgin, longinus and other saints.  the latter include SS Francis and Mary Magdalene, who kneel at the foot of the cross.

Frescoes (early 15th century)

The fresco on the side walls depict two female saints:

  • The figure on the right, whom the hand of God selects to receive the sacraments from an angel, is usually thought to represent the Blessed Angelina.  However, she was probably still alive when this fresco was painted and so is unlikely to have been the subject.  In any case, the figure is depicted as a young woman who was already a saint.  She might have been St Catherine of Siena, who died aged 33: she was not canonised until 1461, but the nuns of Sant' Anna might well have regarded her as a saint before that.

  • The figure on the left s usually thought to represent St Elizabeth of Hungary, the patron saint of Franciscan tertiaries, although she could alternatively be St Catherine of Alexandria.

Refectory


A document dated 1451 reveals that the sisters sold property at that time to finance the building of the refectory. 

Frescoes (15th century)

These frescoes, which are attributed to Andrea di Cagno, depict:

  • the kitchen of the house at Bethany, in which Martha is at work gutting a fish(on the far wall, illustrated also above);


  • Jesus in the house of Martha, with the table set for the meal that Martha is preparing (on the right wall); 


  • the last supper(on the right wall);  and


  • the marriage at Cana (on the back wall). 





Tree of life (15th century)

This fresco, which is attributed to Giovanni di Corraduccio, called Mazzaforte, is in the room leading to the refectory (to the right of the evtrance).


Nuns' Choir


The choir was built in the 15th century and decorated mostly in the 16th century.  The famous Madonna di Foligno by Raphael (see below) was on the altar wall here for a period from 1565.

Nativity (1544)

This fresco by Dono Doni, which is to the right on the altar wall, is dated by an inscription that also records the name of the donor, Finalteria de Meneco de Calamo de Bevagna.  It depicts the Holy Family with St Lucy (a figure that was probably inserted at the request of the donor).




Adoration of the Magi (1567)

This fresco, which is attributed to Nicolò Circignani, il Pomarancio,is to the right wall.  It is dated by an inscription that also records the name of the donor, Bishop Bufalini, who made the donation for his niece.  This was almost certainly Ventura Bufalini, who was Bishop of Massa in the decade from 1560: his niece Vitoria was a nun at Sant' Anna and the family were related to the de' Conti family.




Art from the Complex

Madonna di Foligno (ca. 1511)

Sigismondo de' Conti, the Chamberlain to Pope Julius II, commissioned this altarpiece from Raphael for the high altar of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome.  He died soon after and was buried in the apse.  In 1565, Sigismodo's niece, Anna de' Conti arranged for the altarpiece to Sant' Anna.  It was initially in the nuns' choir but was moved later in the 16th century to the high altar of their external church.

The nuns resisted a series of offers to buy the painting over the centuries.  Napoleon's commissioner, Jean-Antoine Gros ear-marked it for confiscation in 1797, despite the vociferous objections of the people of Foligno.  Antonio Canova recovered it in 1815.  However, it became the subject of a dispute between the nuns of Sant' Anna and the canons of the Duomo.  The nuns therefore decided to sell it to Pope Pius VII.  It is illustrated in the Vatican website and there is a copy (18th century) on the altar wall of the Duomo.

The panel depicts the Madonna and Child with St Jerome (who commends the kneeling donor to the Virgin), St Francis and  St John the Baptist.  The scene is set before a cityscape of Foligno: Sigismondo is thought to have commissioned the work in thanks for the survival of his palace in the city (now Palazzo Gentili Spinola - see Walk II) after it had been struck by a ball of lightening, and this event seems to be depicted here. 

Madonna and Child with saints (early 16th century)

This fresco, which is attributed to Feliciano de’ Muti, is now in the Pinacoteca Civica (Room 4, number 54).

Return to Walk I.