Description
The Church of Santa Rita is located near the entrance of the village of Roccaporena, on the right side.
It is the marital house of Santa Rita, changed into a chapel in 1630 by Fausto Poli (the same one who encouraged the process of beatification of the nun). The Cardinal Fausto Poli ordered to demolish and rebuild the facade and the back wall of the buiding. The House was in “Contrada Piazza” and consisted of a ground floor, where was a room with kitchen functions and of a first floor (which could be reached through an external stone staircase). The first floor included a bedroom and a tiny room with a window on the east side. The roof, facing the public street, had an opening at the top about an inch wide.
In recent years it has been altered by a questionable restoration. The frescoes adorning the interior are by Micheletti from Tourin. On the altar is the painting with Rita receiving the thorn from the Cross, work of art ascribed to Luca Giordano, but difficult to attribute really (behind the Saint are a woman picking a rose and a man plucking two figs).