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Paolo Cacchiatelli and Gregorio Cleter<break strength="x-strong"/> Badia di Valvisciolo, 1865<break strength="strong"/> Etching 163 x 273 millimeters<break strength="strong"/> Historical collection of the Abbey<break strength="x-strong"/> The engraving with the Badia di Valvisciolo (163×273 millimeters) belongs to the collection of the historical collection of the Abbey Museum. It is part of a series of etchings created by Paolo Cacchiatelli and Gregorio Cleter – the “Editorial artists”, as they are referred to in the texts of the plates – to disseminate the artistic, architectural, urban planning and scientific enterprises promoted by Pope Pius IX. It was published in Le scienze e le arti sotto il pontificato di Pio IX, a work in three volumes, published in Rome between 1865 and 1870 and illustrated with 176 plates, accompanied by critical comments by Roman intellectuals of the time, from Pietro Petri to Francesco Cerroti, from Carlo Mascherpa to Domenico Bonanni. The wide scenographic view represents the solemn visit that Pius IX held on May 12, 1863 in the Abbey of Valvisciolo, to inaugurate a three-span bridge that would improve the connections between the Abbey with the inhabited centers of the territory and to ascertain the progress of the works of reorganization of the monastery, in a state of total abandonment for some decades. According to the chronicles of the time, the pontiff was welcomed by a large number of celebrating devotees: “The sky was bright, the populations of Sermoneta, Norma, Carpineto, Bassiano, Cori, Sezze and Terracina, had already all gathered, to enjoy the presence of the Supreme Pius, and to resign him their faithful subjection, and religious homage. As soon as the train of the August Pontiff and King arrived on the esplanade, the infinite shouts of about twenty thousand faithful subjects who had gathered, deafened the air of praise, of hurrahs, and of greetings, imploring the Holy Blessing. In the surrounding mountains, grandiose white and yellow flags were waving, and to the roar of mortal shots, which were fired from the fortress of Sermoneta, from the castle of Norma, and from Mount Corvino, the train of His Holiness proceeded, and along the aforementioned new road, on whose sides were erected thick columns of verdant myrtle, and enriched by two triumphal arches with similar inscriptions erected for the care of Sermoneta and Norma by skilled engineers of the capital”. The event, represented in paintings and engravings, constitutes the beginning of a true rebirth for the Cistercian abbey.