Couvent de Marcasso, 17th-century convent in Cateri, France

The Couvent de Marcasso is a 17th-century convent in Cateri built on a rocky elevation overlooking the Aregno plain. The structure contains a central cloister surrounded by multiple sections with a church and numerous rooms for the religious community.

Franciscan friars founded the convent in 1621 on the ruins of the 10th-century Castello de Marcassu, above the Aregno plain. In 1789 it was declared national property and auctioned to Joseph Salvini de Nessa after the friars were expelled. In 1806 Salvini sold its two large bells and organs and gave the polychrome marble main altar to the church of Cateri. Minor friars left in 1997; Benedictine sisters of Notre Dame d'Espérance stayed until 2014, and in 2019 the sisters of the Rosier de l'Annonciation arrived.

The convent church served as Cateri's parish church in the 17th century. Five paintings owned by the commune were classified as Monuments historiques in 1992, among them a 1661 altarpiece of God the Father, the Annunciation, Saint Joseph, Saint Francis and two donors. The carved, waxed wooden choir stalls and the sacristy panelling are classified too.

The convent stands below the Lavatoggio road in Cateri, overlooking the Aregno plain, and is reached on foot along paths that follow the hillside. It is not a museum open on fixed hours: the buildings belong to the religious community that has lived there since 2019, so visits are arranged with the sisters and fitted around their prayer and work. The church, cloister and some forty rooms are seen on that basis.

The convent stands on the ruins of the 10th-century Castello de Marcassu, a castle that predates the friars' foundation by more than six centuries. In 1806 its owner Joseph Salvini sold the two large bells and the organs, and gave the polychrome marble main altar to the church of Cateri, where it still stands. Five paintings owned by the commune were listed as Monuments historiques in 1992.