Complesso Monumentale di San Francesco a Ripa

The complex is one of the most secret and refined places in Baroque Rome.
In the present courtyard, known as the cistern, is an ancient 17th-century cistern, completed in 1613, which is considered one of the most noteworthy interventions carried out under the pontificate of Paul V. The construction of the cistern followed the restoration of the Trajan-Sabatino aqueduct and the Paola water pipes, which solved the water supply problems of the Trastevere friars. The cistern bears the coat of arms of the Borghese family and an inscription commemorating the donation made by Pope Paul V to the Franciscan monastery in 1613.