The convent of the Presentation at the Temple is located in Monte Telegrafo, in the municipality of Monte Argentario, in the province of Grosseto.
The convent stands on a large square surrounded by a generous nature and still left intact, in Monte Telegrafo. The story was that it was precisely St. Paul of the Cross to trace the first floor plan of the building, built in a simple rectangular style, the scheme of the church devoted to poverty and austerity, just as its rule wanted.
The complex is the mother house of the Congregation of the Passionist Fathers and consists of a convent and a church. The construction work began in 1733 and was completed in 1737. The facade, built in 1856, has a neoclassical façade. The interior preserves some important works: the Madonna with Child who gives to Saint Paul of the Cross the project of the convent, by Pietro Aldi (1880), which can be taken as a manifesto of the congregation; the “Presentation of Mary at the Temple”, by Sebastiano Conca; the “Madonna and Child holding the Sacred Heart and Saint Joseph in the background” by Pompeo Batoni.
The image called “Madonna di Monte Argentario” of the Roman school of the 18th century is very revered. On the altar of the right transept is the canvas with an image of the eighteenth-century Maddalena and, on the left altar, a San Michele, a copy of the homonymous subject by Guido Reni of the Capuchin Church of Rome.
In the crypt are placed, both the statue of the founder of the order (in travertine), and a bas-relief, also in travertine, representing the landing place at the Argentario di San Paolo della Croce. Finally, inside the church you can admire a bronze urn with the remains of the venerable Passionist Father Galileo Nicolini by the sculptor Tito Amodei.
On 12 December 2000, surprisingly and without warning between the amazement and the emotion of the monks present, he stopped to pray in the small chapel of the convent the Pope John Paul II. The place was also particularly loved by Susanna Agnelli (mayor of Monte Argentario from 1974 to 1984), so much so that by expressing her wish, she wanted them to celebrate their funeral.
