Passionist Fathers Convent, Chapel and convent on Monte Argentario, Italy
The Couvent des Pères Passionistes, also known as the Convento della Presentazione al Tempio, is a chapel and convent sitting at about 900 feet (273 meters) above sea level on Monte Argentario, in Tuscany, Italy. The white building has a plain 18th-century facade, and inside the church there are baroque plasterwork decorations and a 17th-century painting of the Virgin Mary.
The convent was founded in 1737, after St. Paul of the Cross, who established the Passionist order, reported a dream in which the Virgin Mary showed him exactly where to build it. After decades of monastic life, the monks left in the 1960s, but the site was kept and is still maintained today.
The small chapel inside the convent remains open to visitors and is still a place of active devotion. In 2000, Pope John Paul II stopped there during a surprise visit to pray, a moment that locals still talk about today.
The convent sits at the end of a winding road up Monte Argentario and is easy to reach from Orbetello and Porto Santo Stefano. The church terrace offers an open view over the sea, the Orbetello lagoon, and the nearby islands.
Although the monks left in the 1960s, the convent has been kept up by volunteers who still care for the grounds today. The old novitiate building, known as the San Giuseppe retreat, still stands on the hill above the church and can be visited on foot.
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