Susan's NGTAW Blog: The beautiful Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore

Friday, May 12 – A Benedictine abbey "born in a dream" in the 1200's

Three rows of Romaneque arches in the grand cloister

From the tower gate at the Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore, you must first walk down a long, rather steep hill lined with huge cyprus trees to reach the abbey proper, past a large brick cistern that looks like an above ground empty swimming pool, and a number of small free standing chapels. At the end of the double row of cyrus trees, the view suddenly opens up to reveal the large abbey complete and a greater than life white marble statue of St. Benedict in the forecourt.

One of the long, downhill paths that leads to you the actual Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore

After a lovely walk down the cyprus pathways, one gets a full view of the abbey complex

A larger than life white marble statue greats you from the forecourt of the complex

To the left is a large building that offers guest housing to visitors, in the tradition of St. Benedict's welcome to travelers and those in need. There is also a store selling herbal remedies and products of the abbey.

The guest house - originally the stables complex

The entrance to the church of the abbey

This large Benedictine complex is still active and is a regional center, with many landholdings dating from its founding in the 1300’s. Its founder was Bernardo Tolomei, an educated and wealthy man whose family owned the land and the surrounding territory, who had a dream/vision in his late 40s about where to build a place of worship.

The setting is magnificent – peaceful, trees taller than the bell tower, quiet, respectful tourists – less than a handful, as it was now getting close to 5 PM. We saw the Great Cloister with frescoes of the life of Saint Benedict by Luca Signorella and Il Sodoma. We also saw the interior of the church – with beautiful, modern stained glass windows and a large wooden carved and inlayed choir stall on each side of the long aisle.

The Great Cloister, lined with frescos of the life of Saint Benedict

The Grand Cloister has three stories of arcades of Romaneque arches

Walking along the corridors of the Great Cloister, viewing the frescos of Luca Signorelli and Il Sodoma

A fresco by Sodoma showing a youthful Saint Benedict leaving his parents and sister to go study in Rome.

A fresco showing "bad women" that are brought to the monastery to try to tempt the monks in earthly ways.

Past the Great Choir, you come to the Middle Choir and the Rectory, where the community of monks has their meals. From there, you can enter the library, which contains hundred of books from the last 4 centuries. You can also tour their pharmacy from the 1600s and a museum. These areas have been refurbished and opened to the public within the last 10 years or so.

The Central Cloister of the abbey

The Rectory, where the monks have their meals, with one of the brothers, in their white Benedictine robe, conducting a tour. There is a painting of the last supper on the far wall of the dining room.