House of Cavalier d’Arpino

Not far from Piazza Municipio, at the entrance to the town, you can admire the house of Giuseppe Cesari, known as the Cavalier d’Arpino.

This great artist from Arpino once had Michelangelo Merisi, better known as Caravaggio, as his pupil for approximately eight months.
As a profound connoisseur of art, the painter kept numerous canvases produced in his workshop, including some by young Merisi. However, in 1607, the painter’s works were confiscated by the Papal States through subterfuge. Accused of the illegal possession of arquebuses, Cavalier d’Arpino was forced to relinquish the 107 paintings in his possession to resolve his legal troubles. These canvases became part of Cardinal Scipione Caffarelli Borghese’s collection and are now housed in Rome’s Borghese Gallery. In Arpino, however, some of Cavalier d’Arpino’s works of art can still be admired in two churches: San Vito sull’Acropoli and San Michele Arcangelo in the town.