Abbey of Santa Maria del Monte
| Abbazia Santa Maria del Monte | |
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| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Order | Order of St. Benedict |
| Established | 1001 |
| Diocese | |
| Site | |
| Coordinates | 44°07′55″N 12°15′18″E / 44.1319°N 12.2551°ECoordinates: 44°07′55″N 12°15′18″E / 44.1319°N 12.2551°E |
The Abbey of Santa Maria del Monte (St. Mary of the Mountain) is a Benedicine monastery in Cesena, Italy. This imposing building stands on the Colle Spaziano (Spaziano Hill).
The abbey was founded about the year 1001 and completed by 1026, in connection with a small church which housed the remains of St. , a Benedictine monk who had been the Bishop of Cesena in the first half of the 10th century, and who had the custom of climbing the hill on which the abbey stands in order to pray. His vita was written by the Camaldolese monk and cardinal, Peter Damian. The abbey was confirmed in 1059 by a papal bull of Pope Nicholas II.
The abbey benefited greatly when it received the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa as a guest in 1177. The emperor gave the abbey his protection and bestowed a large grant of land to the community. In 1356, however, the ruler of Forlì, Francesco II Ordelaffi, seized the monastery and used it as a barracks for his troops. The monks fled for over year. Upon their return, they found the abbey in ruins. The reconstruction lasted for over a century.
Between 1536 and 1548 the abbey church assumed its present day appearance on the basis of a design by Domenico Gravini of Brisighella, who used an original design by Bramante. As the centre of the artistic life of Cesena, the Basilica del Monte also benefited from the work of major artists in the region: Scipione Sacco, Girolamo Longhi and Francesco Masini. Important works are also attributable to Francesco Morandi, known as the Terribilia, to whom we owe the dome (decorated by Francesco Masini between 1568 and 1571) and original stone staircase, and to Alessandro Corsi who in 1588 was the creator of the monumental well of the Great Cloister. The church also houses a wooden choir completed in 1575 by Giuseppe d’Alberto di Scalva.
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