Pope Names Head of Luigi Maria Monti Foundation

General Saverio Capolupo, Former Commander General of the Guardia di Finanza (Financial Police)

Luigi Maria Monti Foundation
Main facade of the IDI on via dei Monti di Creta - Wikipedia - Photo by Claudio gattei

Today, the Holy See appointed General Saverio Capolupo, former Commander General of the Guardia di Finanza (Financial Police), president of the Board of Directors of the Luigi Maria Monti Foundation, owner and manager of the Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata (IDI-IRCCS) in Rome.

He succeeds Reverend Fr. Giuseppe Pusceddu, CFIC, provincial superior of the Italian Province of the Congregation of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception, President ad interim since 12 November 2020, to whom we extend our heartfelt thanks for his work in recent months.

The Holy See continues to express its closeness and support to the Foundation and its works, which perpetuate the legacy of Fr. Monti through attentive care for the suffering and fraternal attention to their needs.

n 1857 Father Monti founded the Congregation of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception with the aim of providing health care and spiritual support to all the needy.

The Holy See recognized the importance of this mission and facilitated, in 1925, the inauguration of the first pavilion of the Sanatorium in Via Monti di Creta.

The work was carried out first by Father Sala and then by Emanuele Stablum who, by the will of the Congregation, renounced the priesthood to become a doctor.


Stablum, applying innovative criteria, perfected the dermatological activity carried out by his predecessor, giving the IDI the characteristic of a dermatological hospital.

During the Second World War, Jews persecuted by the regime also found refuge at the hospital, and this earned Stablum the recognition – as remembered by a marble affixed to the entrance of the Institute – of “Righteous among the Nations”

In 1950 Prof. Rino Cavalieri revalued that research activity, typical of the institute, which had suffered a sharp slowdown during the Second World War.

The subsequent scientific activity and the role assumed by the hospital, both at a regional and national level, meant that the Institute was qualified as a “specialized regional hospital” for dermatology.

Since then, the study and research activities multiplied: the new headquarters of Villa Paola in Capranica (VT) were born and the departments of Oncology, Plastic Surgery and Vascular Surgery were established at the IDI, alongside Dermatology.

In July 1990, the IDI obtained from the Ministry of Health and Scientific Research the recognition as a Scientific Hospitalization and Care Institute (IRCCS).