The most beautiful abbeys in Italy to visit, region by region

An abbey is not just a church. It is an organism made of cloisters, refectories, scriptoria and gardens that for centuries organized the landscape around it, often at the bottom of a valley or atop a spur chosen precisely to stay apart. This is why many of the most beautiful abbeys in Italy are not found in the great art cities, but twenty minutes away by path or by boat. Here is a tour region by region, with a concrete reason for each stop.

Northern Italy

**Piedmont.** Among the hills of Albugnano, in the Asti Monferrato, the abbey of Santa Maria di Vezzolano preserves one of the best-kept Romanesque cloisters in Northern Italy and a sculpted rood screen dividing the nave: the carved date reads 1189, but art historians place it around 1230. It is worth the journey for the painted bas-reliefs, where the Virgin's mantle is still coloured with lapis lazuli, and for the 14th-century fresco cycle of the cloister.

**Lombardy.** Above Civate, in the province of Lecco, San Pietro al Monte can be reached only on foot, with a climb of about three quarters of an hour: at the top you find a ciborium and early-medieval stuccoes that seem out of proportion to the effort of the path, and that is precisely the point. On Lake Maggiore, instead, Santa Caterina del Sasso is glued to the rock face overhanging the water: you get there by boat or by descending a long stairway, and the view changes completely depending on the hour.

**Liguria.** San Fruttuoso has no roads reaching it: you either arrive by sea on the boat from Camogli and Portofino, or on foot along the paths of the promontory. The Benedictine abbey faces a tiny beach with the Doria crypt behind it; in high season it is best to set off early in the morning, before the bay fills up.

**Friuli-Venezia Giulia.** At Sesto al Reghena, the abbey of Santa Maria in Sylvis shaped the very village: houses, tower and moat grew up around the Benedictine monastery of Lombard origin. Inside, 14th-century frescoes and a crypt that guards early-medieval sculptures.

Central Italy

**Umbria.** In the Valnerina, San Pietro in Valle above Ferentillo is a small encyclopedia of medieval art. There is the Lombard altar of Ursus Magester, one of the very rare cases where the sculptor signs his own work; there are the 12th-century Romanesque frescoes, studied in depth before the workshops of Assisi; and there are the Roman sarcophagi reused as tombs of the dukes of Spoleto.

**Marche.** San Vittore alle Chiuse is a Romanesque church on a central plan, in white stone, planted right at the mouth of the Sentino gorge, a stone's throw from the Frasassi caves. It is easily paired with a walk along the river, which is half the reason to go.

**Tuscany.** Everyone knows Sant'Antimo, but San Galgano remains an experience apart: the Cistercian abbey is roofless, a Gothic cathedral open to the sky and the grass. Just above, in the rotunda of Montesiepi, is the real sword in the stone that inspired so many legends.

The South

**Campania.** Above the Ofanto Valley, near Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, the Abbey of Goleto is a Cistercian complex partly in ruins, marked by the Irpinia earthquakes but eloquent for exactly that reason: a Norman tower, a Vanvitellian church and walls that tell of nine centuries of history.

The tour could go on for a long time. Staying off the most-trodden destinations, worth a detour too are Pomposa with its bell tower in the Po delta, the abbey of Praglia in the Euganean Hills, the Lazio Cistercian abbeys of Fossanova and Casamari, the Novalesa in Val di Susa and Santa Maria di Cerrate in the Salento.

Practical tips

A few practical pointers: many abbeys rely on a handful of people and on donations, so opening hours are reduced, often closed at lunchtime, and change in winter. Call ahead, bring cash for the offering and, where the monastic community is still active, try to arrive for vespers: the building returns to doing what it was born for, and everything becomes much clearer.

Practical guides for Assisi

• Where to stay in Assisi
• What to see in Assisi in 2 days
• Where to eat in Assisi
• How to get to Assisi