Sala delle Volte in Monte Giberto: the Siro Ciarrocchi collection of devotional medals

The Sala delle Volte is a historical place in Monte Giberto that has been a point of reference for the Montegibertese community over the years.

Today, after careful renovation, which highlights its architectural beauty, it is used for cultural events and community meetings.

Moreover, inside the Sala delle Volte, we can admire a unique exhibition: the Siro Ciarrocchi Collection of Devotional Medals.

What is the history of the Sala delle Volte?

Who was Siro Ciarrocchi, and what does his collection of holy medals consist of?

We tell you in this article.

The Sala delle Volte (Hall of Vaults), so called because of the typical vaulted ceiling structure, was a community mill in the distant past.

In 1906, thanks to donations from the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, the municipality and individual citizens, it became the seat of the municipal nursery school run by the nuns.

The municipal nursery school was named after Don Giacomo Mida, a priest who, in 1632, made a will to favour the community and the two confraternities in Monte Giberto.

After the the nursery school was moved to another location, the public water tank was installed in the Sala delle Volte and remained there until the 1980s.

The Hall was later restored and paved, and today, it is used for public assemblies, exhibitions, conferences, cultural events and civil ceremonies.

Due to its beauty and special acoustics, it is also used for theatre courses and small performances.

The Sala delle Volte houses the permanent exhibition of devotional medals donated to the municipality by Siro Ciarrocchi, an inhabitant of Monte Giberto.

Siro Ciarrocchi was born in Monte Giberto on 15 January 1933.

From a young age, he had a free and quite rebellious temperament, so much so that he abandoned his classical studies and enlisted in the Navy.

When he was 23, following an accident in the engine room of a military ship, he left the Navy and returned to his native village.

Back in Monte Giberto, Siro led a simple life and found work in the municipal tax collector's office.

During  this period, he began cultivating his passion for collecting and attended philatelic and numismatic conventions throughout Italy.

Thus, he started collecting coins, stamps and many other valuable objects related to his passions.

At the age of 35, he suffered a cerebral ischemia that caused speech and walking problems.

His health deteriorated, and after a period of bewilderment and depression, Siro found in his passion for art a solid motivation to tackle his health problems.

He thus began modelling clay and painting.

He also returned to collect medals, sacred images, stamps, postcards, and prints.

In the early 1970s, he moved to Fermo with his family. There, he frequented many street markets, where he found countless useful objects for his collections.

He also continued his artistic experience and began painting portraits, landscapes, and still lifes on canvas.

Over the years, he participated in various solo and group exhibitions with his works, gaining recognition and approval from the public.

His collections were studied by specialists from various fields.

Siro was a generous artist and donated to the municipality of Monte Giberto, his native town to which he was particularly attached, a precious collection of around ten thousand devotional medals and an essential collection of original engravings by Salvator Rosa, one of the greatest Italian engravers of the 17th century.

He died in 2015 due to health problems.

Historically, the transition from coins used as a form of payment to devotional or commemorative medals is difficult to precisely place.

The origins of coins are ancient and linked to the earliest forms of trade and exchange of goods.

The development of trade necessitated a standardised exchange that led to the creation of small metal objects, which were valued according to weight and type of metal.

Modern coins were created when the state became solely responsible for issuing coins and engraved its emblem on them.

The image on the coin is significant because it represents the state and reflects its political, historical, and religious views.

Over time, the first coins took on symbolic and religious meanings in addition to their economic value.

In many ancient cultures, coins were used as amulets and minted with images of deities or sacred symbols.

This practice evolved over the centuries, giving rise to devotional medals.

The latter, often made of precious metal and richly decorated, depicted saints, biblical scenes or religious symbols.

From the earliest coins minted in Asia Minor to the elaborate devotional medals of the Renaissance, the path linking money and faith is long and fascinating, combining history, economics and spirituality.

Siro Ciarrocchi, an artist and collector from Monte Giberto, donated the Devotional medals collection on display in the Vaulted Hall. 

This precious and important collection includes 10,000 medals from the 6th to the 20th centuries. Of these 10,000, 778 have been selected and exhibited.

With the help of Father Floriano Grimaldi, a religious and expert archivist and researcher, the most significant medals were selected and sorted into eight titles.

The collection is unique in the number of medals and the variety of images.

The medals, arranged in eight display panels specially created for this exhibition, are visible from both sides and illustrate the truth of Christian doctrine, starting with the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

The medals depict sacred subjects such as Mary, Jesus, and the Saints, whom the faithful invoke as spiritual life protectors and teachers.

The Siro Ciarrocchi collection of devotional medals is a cultural and historical attraction of great value, not to be missed.