Abbazie e monasteri isolati in Italia: guida completa

Way of Saint Anthony: From Padua to La Verna Among Franciscan Sanctuaries and Venetian Hills

180 km from Padua to Monte della Verna following the footsteps of Saint Anthony of Padua, through the Euganean Hills, the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and beech forests.

Sacra di San Michele

Sacra di San Michele: The Hilltop Abbey That Preceded Santiago

Perched on the rock of Monte Pirchiriano in the Susa Valley, the Sacra di San Michele is one of the great Romanesque buildings of Europe, less known than it deserves.

Staffarda

Staffarda Abbey: Silent Romanesque Among the Rice Fields

A twelfth-century Cistercian abbey set in the Piedmontese plain, Staffarda is one of the best-preserved monastic complexes in Italy.

San Vittore alle Chiuse

Abbey of San Vittore alle Chiuse: Romanesque Stone on the Water

Built in the eleventh century on the bank of the Sentino River, the Abbey of San Vittore alle Chiuse is among the finest Romanesque architecture in the Marche. Almost nobody seeks it out.

Ferentillo

Italian villages

Ferentillo: The Mummies in the Crypt and the Lombard Abbey in the Gorge

In a village split in two by the Nera river, twenty-four naturally preserved mummies rest in the crypt of Santo Stefano, while a few steps away stands one of Italy's finest Lombard abbeys.

Blagaj, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Blagaj: Where a River Is Born from the Mountain and Sufi Mysticism Still Lives

In Blagaj, Bosnia, a river erupts from a cave beneath a 200-metre cliff face and a sixteenth-century Sufi monastery watches over the turquoise water.

Tremiti Islands, Puglia

Wild nature

Tremiti Islands: San Nicola, the Medieval Abbey and the Adriatic You Never Expected

A guide to the Tremiti, Puglia's archipelago: San Nicola's medieval abbey, Capraia's seabeds, Cala delle Arene and ferries from the Gargano.

Luang Prabang, Laos

Responsible travel

Luang Prabang — City of Monks and Golden Temples

Luang Prabang, Laos's UNESCO jewel: the alms-giving ceremony at dawn, gilded temples, turquoise waterfalls and sunset cruises on the Mekong.

Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, France

Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, the Hérault Gorges and the Abbey of Gellone

Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert hides in the Hérault gorges: a Benedictine abbey, turquoise waters and a stage on the Way of Saint James.

Lagrasse, France

Lagrasse, the Abbey Among the Corbières Vineyards

Lagrasse is a medieval borgo in the Corbières with a Carolingian abbey, a humpback bridge and bold red wines waiting to be discovered.

Bobbio, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Italian villages

Bobbio: the Devil's Bridge and the Abbey That Saved European Culture

Bobbio enchants with the humpback Ponte Gobbo, the abbey of San Colombano and the genuine flavours of the Val Trebbia.

Castles, palaces and monuments

Follina, Veneto, Italy

Follina, where a Cistercian abbey meets the Prosecco hills

Follina, a jewel of the Trevisan hills: a twelfth-century Cistercian abbey, historic woollen mills and the silence of the UNESCO Prosecco hills.

Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang: The City Where Monks Walk at Dawn and the Mekong Flows Slow

Golden temples, the monks' alms procession at dawn, turquoise waterfalls and night markets: Luang Prabang is the Southeast Asia that chose slowness.

Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, Campania, Italy

Mount Hymettus (Kaisariani), Athens, Greece

The Abbey of Goleto, ruins on a hill above the Ofanto Valley

Among the hills of Irpinia, the Abbey of Goleto: Romanesque towers, Roman stones and a roofless church tell the story of eight centuries.

Jul 1, 2026

Churches and cathedrals

The Kaisariani Monastery on Mount Hymettus: the dome that rests on a Roman temple

An 11th-century Byzantine monastery in the pine woods of Mount Hymettus, 7 km from Athens: a dome on Roman columns, frescoes from 1682, and a sacred spring.

Jun 28, 2026

Graça / São Vicente, Lisbon, Portugal

Churches and cathedrals

São Vicente de Fora: the monastery above Alfama where the Braganzas rest among the azulejos

The monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon: azulejo cloisters, the Braganza pantheon and a panoramic terrace, almost always empty.

Jun 28, 2026

Innere Stadt, Vienna, Austria

City corners

Heiligenkreuzerhof: the Baroque courtyard of Heiligenkreuz Abbey in the centre of Vienna

A few steps from Stephansplatz, a silent Baroque courtyard with a chapel and fountain, owned by Heiligenkreuz Abbey.

Jun 28, 2026

Sesto al Reghena, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy

Sesto al Reghena, the abbey hidden in the forest of Friuli

On the Pordenone plain, Sesto al Reghena is a Lombard monastic village: its thousand-year-old basilica holds frescoes and silence.

Genga, Marche, Italy

San Vittore alle Chiuse: the stone abbey where the Sentino enters the gorge

At the mouth of the Frasassi gorge, in the Marche, San Vittore alle Chiuse is one of the most intact Romanesque churches in Italy: worth a stop.

Camogli, Liguria, Italy

Responsible travel

San Fruttuoso, the abbey with no roads

In a Ligurian bay reachable only on foot or by sea, the Abbey of San Fruttuoso, protected by the FAI, looks out over crystal-clear waters.

Albugnano, Piedmont, Italy

The Abbey of Vezzolano, the Romanesque Cloister Hidden in the Monferrato

Among the hills of the Monferrato, the Abbey of Vezzolano guards one of the most beautiful Romanesque cloisters in Piedmont, a stone's throw from Turin.

Civate (Lecco), Lombardy, Italy

San Pietro al Monte: the abbey you earn on foot

Above Civate, after a climb through the woods, the Romanesque abbey of San Pietro al Monte rewards those who reach it with frescoes and quiet.

Anagni (Frosinone), Lazio, Italy

Churches and cathedrals

Anagni, the frescoed crypt that rivals a "Sistine Chapel"

In Anagni, the Romanesque cathedral and the crypt of San Magno hold some of the finest cycles of medieval frescoes in Italy.

Conques, Aveyron (Occitania), France

Conques, the Stone Abbey Where the Noise of the World Ends

In the Aveyron, the village of Conques guards a Romanesque abbey and a medieval treasury of goldsmithry still little known to Italian travellers.

Ferentillo (Terni), Umbria, Italy

San Pietro in Valle: the Lombard abbey in the woods of Ferentillo

In the woods of the Valnerina, above Ferentillo, an ancient Lombard abbey guards frescoes and quiet far from Umbria's tourist trail.