Altitude 408 m (1,340 feet). 9,200 inhabitants
It owes its
name (Subiaco = under the lake) to the Simbruina
Stagna (watertights of the Simbruini Mountains) built at the behest of Nero
(54/68), damming the Aniene River at the foot of the Simbruini Mountains
Here Nero
had a magnificent villa
Apparently
Subiaco was founded at that time for the slaves working in the construction
Seminary
Palace
1715,
expanded in the years 1775/80 by
Pietro Camporese the Elder (1726/81) and Carlo Colombi
Bridge
of St. Francis
It was
built on the Aniene River in 1358. It was restored in 1789 for Pope Pius VI
Braschi (1775/99)
Rocca Abbaziale
Fortress
with Abbey
It was
built during the eleventh century by the Abate Giovanni
(John the Abbot)
It was very
disputed. Since 1455 it was the seat of commendatory cardinals including in
1471 Rodrigo Borgia, later Pope Alexander VI (1492/1503)
Maybe
Lucrezia Borgia, Rodrigo Borgia’s daughter, was born here in 1480
The abbey
passed eventually to the Colonna family
Another
commendatory cardinal who became pope was Pius VI Braschi (1775/99) who had the
architect Pietro Camporese the Elder connecting
all the buildings in order to have a single building
In front of
the façade there is a garden with some RUINS OF NERO’S VILLA
Inside
there is the APARTMENT OF THE COLONNA FAMILY with frescoes maybe by the school of Federico Zuccari (about 1542/1609) and the
APARTMENT OF PIUS VI
Cattedrale di
S. Andrea
Cathedral of St. Andrew
1766/89 Pietro Camporese il Vecchio (1726/81)
It was rebuilt
after World War II
RIGHT TRANSEPT
"Miraculous
fishing" by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)
SACRISTY
"Madonna
with Child" maybe by the Florentine Carlo Dolci (1616/86)
or Guido Reni (1575/1642)
S. Francesco
St. Francis
1327, on
the old Chapel of St. Peter in the Desert,
dedicated in 1224 to St. Francis
1st
ALTAR ON THE RIGHT
"Marriage
of the Virgin Mary" by Giulio Pippi aka Giulio
Romano (1499/1546)
3rd
ALTAR ON THE RIGHT
"St.
Francis Receiving the Stigmata" maybe by Sebastiano Luciani aka Sebastiano del Piombo (1485/1547)
MAIN ALTAR
Triptych “Madonna
and Child with Sts. Francis and Anthony” 1467 by Antonio Aquili aka Antoniazzo Romano (about 1435-40/1508)
"Antoniazzo
here opens to modern perspective solutions that he combines with traditional
values of Roman medieval period: majestic, yet intensely human is the image
of the Virgin Mary cuddling the baby, firmly planted on the ground are the
Saints at her sides standing out on the precious golden background almost like
statues" (Anna Cavallaro)
Under the
altar S. Deodato’s body brought from
the catacombs
In the apse
wooden choir of 1504
3rd
CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
Frescoes maybe
by Giovanni Antonio Bazzi aka Sodoma (1477/1549)
"Nativity"
maybe by Bernardino di Betto aka Pinturicchio
(1454/1513)
S. Maria della Valle
1794/1851 Carlo
Colombi
Polychrome
wooden statue carved during the twelfth century "Our Lady of Perpetual
Help"
Monastery
of St. Scholastica
It is the only
monastery surviving earthquakes and Saracen destruction of the thirteen small
monasteries originally built at the behest of St. Benedict (480/547) in the
valley of Subiaco
In Subiaco
St. Benedict began and gradually perfected the kind of monastic life presented
in his Rule, whose first draft dates from this period
In 529 St.
Benedict left Subiaco to go to Cassino
Until the
end of the twelfth century it was the only monastery of Subiaco, rebuilt and
consecrated by Pope Benedict VII (974/983) with the name of the Monastery of St. Benedict and St.
Scholastica
Originally
it was called Monastery of St. Sylvester
and got its current name during the fourteenth century
Complex of
buildings built in different periods and styles:
ENTRANCE
Writing Ora et Labora (pray and work), with structures
built during the twentieth century
FIRST
CLOISTER
1580/1689
also called, inappropriately, Renaissance
Cloister
SECOND CLOISTER
Fourteenth
century, also called, inappropriately, Gothic
Cloister with "Flamboyant Arch" of the fifteenth century
THIRD
CLOISTER
It is known
as Cosmatesque Cloister, signed by the
Roman marble worker Jacopo il Vecchio, son of
Lorenzo di Tebaldo, who had begun the works probably before 1210
His son Cosma, from whom the art of Roman marble had its name,
after his father's death, around 1240, together with his sons Luca and Jacopo
continued and completed the construction
The BELL
TOWER dates back to 1052/53
The present
CHURCH, the last of five churches stratified over the centuries, dates back to
1769/76 designed by Giacomo Quarenghi (1744/1817)
from Bergamo
He was a
pupil of Paolo Posi and later became famous as the architect of the czars in
St. Petersburg
Of the
original church, dating back to the beginning of the thirteenth century,
Quarenghi retained entirely the outer walls and built his new church inside
"He
reduced to clear proportionality the perspective of longitudinal baroque
churches, transforming the side chapels in niches inscribed in the geometric
frame of pilasters, under a vaulted ceiling that ensures clear and uniform
illumination" (Giulio Carlo Argan)
Restructuring
1851/52 by Giacomo Monaldi (1819/1905) who
designed the apse supported by pillars and columns covered with scagliola, a type of fine plaster that
mimics marble, in this case with the color of peach blossom
"Here
was built the new solution with niches inspired by Palladio, which appeared to
be Quarenghi’s idea, even if it introduced in the interior a sort of spatial
illusion, in contrast to the clarity of the typical architecture of Quarenghi”
(Claudio Giumelli)
Paintings
of the seventeenth century by Vincenzo Manenti (1600/74),
Pompeo De Ferrari
Paintings of the end of the sixteenth century by Marcello da Piacenza
In the
vault of the narthex there are frescoes with "Stories of St.
Benedict" about 1430 by the school of Umbria-Marche
regions
In the entrance
room "Two marble columns" from the Villa of Nero
The MONASTERY
had the period of greatest splendor between 1000 and 1200
In 1465 the
two German clergymen A. Pannartz and C. Sweynheym installed here the first
Italian typography, that enriched the library, already existing, with incunabula
and books of great value
The LIBRARY
is now located on the north side of the Gothic cloister
It houses
more than 100,000 volumes, 440 manuscripts and 213 incunabula
The dining
hall is located in the west side of the Cosmatesque Cloister, once surmounted by
the dormitory
Monastery
of St. Benedict
Also called
Sacro Speco, Sacred Grotto
It was
built at the end of the twelfth century above the cave where St. Benedict spent
three years of hermit life
It is embedded
in the rock overlooking the valley and it consists of two churches one on top
of the other, chapels and caves entirely painted in different periods
CORRIDOR, later
hall of the old chapter house, with many frescoes of the school of Pietro Vannucci aka Perugino (about
1450/1523)
Upper
Church
It was
built mid-fourteenth cemtury
"Columns"
from the Villa of Nero
FIRST BAY
Frescoes
"Stories of Jesus" fourteenth century by the Sienese
school
SECOND BAY
On the lower
part of the walls frescoes with "Stories of St. Benedict" about 1430 by
the school of Umbria-Marche regions
TRANSEPT
On the
right two chapels interconnected with "Stories of saints" about 1430 by
the school of Umbria-Marche regions
ALTAR
Rebuilt in the
nineteenth century with original altar front and columns of the thirteenth
century
SACRISTY
Frescoes of
the seventeenth century by Ottaviano Nelli da Gubbio (1375/1444)
and Vincenzo Manenti (1600/74)
Board
"Madonna with Child" of the school of
Bernardino di Betto aka Pinturicchio (1454/1513)
COURTYARD
OF THE CROWS
So called
for the miracle of the crow that carried away the poisoned bread from Brother
Fiorenzo for St. Benedict
Lower
Church
Chapels
built into the rock at several levels
Paintings
of the fifteenth century
Paintings
by Magister Conxolus (second half of the
thirteenth century) about 1280 belonging to the popular Roman school that had
its highest representative in Pietro Cavallini
"In the
naive paintings of Magister Conxolus is the freshness of art that, by its own
power of observation, begins to come out of the darkness and face the light, watching
life and taking it directly as model" (Hermanin)
SMALL
CHAPEL OF St. ROMANO
Paintings
by Magister Conxolus and Vincenzo Manenti (1600/74)
SACRO SPECO
Sacred
Grotto in English. Covered by a wall of cipollino
marble from the Villa of Nero
"Statue
of St. Benedict" 1657 by Ercole Antonio Raggi (1624/86)
The spiral
staircase leads to the ATRIUM with frescoes of the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries by Magister Conxolus and of the
fifteenth century
CHAPEL OF
St. GREGORY THE GREAT
Also known
as CHAPEL OF THE ANGELS with
Byzantine frescoes of the early thirteenth century including on the right
"St. Francis" painted in 1223 during the time Francis was in Subiaco
"An
anonymous painter captures the conventional patterns of Byzantine language; in
a true representation of human and dignified sweetness, designed in a drawn style,
he painted the oldest image of St. Francis known to us, highlighting some of
the possibilities implicit in the Byzantine classicism, development toward a
renewed naturalism" (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
SCALA SANTA
Holy Stairs
in English. So named because it was built on the route of the path that St.
Benedict walked up to the Sacro Speco
Frescoes:
"Triumph of Death", "Monk shows three young people what happens
to human bodies after death in three different phases" "Baptism of
Jesus", "Massacre of the Innocents" and "Saints" by
the Sienese school
At the end
of the stairs CHAPEL OF OUR LADY of the fourteenth century with frescoes of the
Sienese school
CAVE OF THE
SHEPHERDS
Here St.
Benedict would come to educate shepherds
"Madonna
and two saints" Byzantine fresco of the eighth century, the oldest
painting of the Sacro Speco
TERRACE AND
ROSE GARDEN
Frescoes by
Vincenzo Manenti (1600/74) and fresco with
"St. Benedict" of the thirteenth century
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