"Monte San Giovanni Italy" by Rosa Paulus is a copy of a charming original watercolor by artist Rosa Paulus of her father's native home 56 miles southeast of Rome.

Monte San Giovanni is best known as the place where Thomas Aquinas was imprisoned by his family for two years. St. Thomas' cell now houses a 16th-century triptych of the Neapolitan School.

Monte San Giovanni is home to an 11th-century fortress, the Castello di Monte San Giovanni Campano. It was the first western fortification ever to be breached and captured using a bombardment from portable field artillery, when its castle was stormed by the troops of Charles VIII of France in a mere eight hours in 1495.

Monte San Giovanni was also a summer residence of Pope Adrian IV starting in 1155, and where sojourned the poet Vittoria Colonna.

Image dimensions: 13 1/2" W x 10 1/2" H. Entire piece including frame measures 20" W x 16 "H.