Convento dei Padri Trappisti, Trappist monastery in Frattocchie, Marino, Italy

The Trappist monastery is a Romanesque-style building located in Frattocchie near Marino, constructed with stone walls, arched windows, and a church at its center. The complex sits on land that once held a historic estate and preserves architectural features from earlier centuries.

Invited by Pope Leo XIII to care for the unprotected Catacombs of Callixtus, the Trappists of Mont-des-Cats founded a monastery in Rome in 1883, raised to an abbey in 1891. In 1929 the community moved to Frattocchie, where the third abbot, Dom Ubaldo Corsi, had bought the seventeenth-century Villa della Sirena from the Colonna family with its 28-hectare estate. The new convent was built from 1930 to 1938, the church from 1942 to 1949, consecrated in 1963.

The abbey's chocolate factory, entered separately from Via di Costa Rotonda, recalls a craft begun by Dutch monks who brought their secret recipe to the Roman community. The monks made chocolate until 1972, after which they turned to winegrowing; the historic shop selling chocolate, jam and farm products closed on 4 November 2023.

The location is within reach of Rome by car or public transport and sits near the Castel Gandolfo residence. Visitors should know this is an active monastery, so visiting hours are limited and monastic rules apply.

Chocolate making at Frattocchie ended in 1972, after which the monks turned to viticulture for their upkeep; the abbey's historic shop selling chocolate, jam and farm products closed on 4 November 2023. The recipe had arrived with Dutch monks at the community's Roman beginnings.