Lucedio Abbey

Lucedio Abbey (Italian: Abbazia di Santa Maria di Lucedio) is a 12th-century former Cistercian foundation near Trino, which is now in the province of Vercelli, north-west Italy. It played an important role in the development of rice production in the region.

The abbey was founded in 1124, when Renier I of Montferrat provided an extensive tract of marsh, heath and woodland known as Locez, on whose agricultural development the future prosperity of Lucedio would depend.

As the second daughter-house of La Ferté Abbey (after Tiglieto Abbey, in the Ligurian Apennines), this was one of the earliest Cistercian monasteries in Italy. Lucedio contributed in its turn to the expansion of the Cistercian Order by giving birth to three daughter-houses over the next eighty years: S. Maria di Chiaravalle della Castagnola (1147) in the Marche, Rivalta Scrivia (1180) near Tortona and Acqualunga (1204) near Pavia.

The Abbey’s political ties to the Aleramici of Montferrat were shown in 1202 when its abbot, Peter II, accompanied the Marquess Boniface, grandson of Renier, on the notorious Fourth Crusade. After the sack of Constantinople in 1204 Boniface, as leader of the crusade, had expectations of being appointed the first emperor of the new Latin Empire. Abbot Peter was among the electors and is presumed to have been among the two or three who voted for Boniface. The crown, however, went to Baldwin, Count of Flanders who had the support of the Venetians.

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