The Magione (or Castle of Magione) dates back to the eleventh century and on September 5th 1140 it was donated by Gottifredo and Arnolfino from Cristofano (or Cristofani), heirs of the founders, to the Monks living in the Abbey of San Michele of Poggio Marturi, who entrusted it to the Knights Templar, making it one of the several “Mansiones” or “Domus Templi” on the Francigena route.
In 1312 the Order of the Temple was abolished and the Magione was given to the Knights Hospitaller, passing, throughout the years, in the hands of many owners as long as, on January 20th 1979, it was purchased by S.E. the Count dom. Marcello A. Cristofano della Magione (currently Grand Master), which donated it to the Militia of the Temple (Order of the poor Knights of Christ) formed on May 17th 1979, legal person of Canon Law and Italian Civil Law, which in the Castle of Magione have established its Head Office (Grand Master and Governing bodies). It’s diffused, nowadays, in Europe and American States. A difficult restoration started, aimed at preserving the Romanic origin of the structure; accessing the internal courtyard, which the rooms of the Pilgrims and the spaces of the Convent of the Monk- Knights overlooked on, visitors have the feeling of living an atmosfere of full Middle Ages.
An extremely interesting spot is indentifiable in the “San Giovanni in Jerusalem” Church, built in pure and untouched Romanic style, inside the perimeter of the fortified structure.
The building, a rectangular room with a sloping roof and a final apse, has been realised during the Romanic ages, between the eleventh and the thirteenth century, with a wall parameter made with travertine blocks. The facade of the church is gabled shaped and, anciently, there was a bell tower whose ruins today are just the columns’ basis.
The decoration on the entrance is simple and a second portal opens on the southern side of the structure.
The indoor vaulted roof has substituted, in the eighteenth century, the original ceiling made of exposed wooden trusses while the interior is divided in two parts by a small wall: an area is reserved to knights, the other one is at visitors’ disposal.
The Magione caste, with its church, is nowadays the headquarter of the Militia of the Temple, an institution inspired to the Templar rule and recognised by the State and the Church.
The Castle of Magione, defined “the most complete hospital complex of Middle Ages still intact in Western Europe” (Department of Art History of the University of Buffalo – New York University – USA), whose survival and restoration are fundamental for historians and art historians, is part of the Associazione Dimore Storiche Italiane and since April 24th 2012 it has been included in the “hundreds Italian wonders”.
In some parts of the castle, opened to visitors in special circumstances, some artworks and a valuable collection of sacres silverware are stored beside reliquaries and precious liturgical parametres.

Loc. Castello della Magione, 1

CONTCTS
Tel: 0577 935330 – 0577935403
www.ordo-militiae-templi.org
info@ordo-militiae-templi.org

VISITS
Visits are free but, who desires giving a contrubution to the maintenance of the location, can leave an offer to the Church. They can be reserved by phone through the contacts provided, even to agree a different time and day than the usual ones.

Timetable:
MON-  FRI 17.30 – 19
SUNDAY after the Holy Mass at 9.30 am