Abbazia di San Clemente a Casauria

Emperor Louis II founded the Benedictine abbey of San Clemente a Casauria in September 871, on a strategic bend of the Pescara. Its sculpted portico and bronze doors preserve an exceptional record of medieval art and history.

Why it matters

The abbey’s imperial foundation shaped a monastery that became a major landowner, scriptorium and political presence in central Italy. Its location beside the ancient Via Claudio-Valeria, near the Pescara crossing between the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento, gave it strategic importance. The abbey was declared a national monument in 1894.

What to notice

A three-arched portico on reused columns stands before the façade, whose capitals bear narrative scenes. The bronze portal is assembled from 72 figured panels; the surrounding sculpture recounts the abbey’s foundation, donation and history. Inside, ogival arches divide the three naves, and staircases lead down to the crypt. The ambo of Fra Giacomo, dated to about 1176, stands in the right nave near the paschal candle stand. In the apse, the ciborium shelters a marble reliquary containing the remains of Saint Clement, whose relics gave the abbey its dedication.

Context and history

The Chronicon Casauriensis, compiled in the late twelfth century by the monk Giovanni di Berardo at the request of Abbot Leonate, recounts Louis II’s foundation and its political setting. Initially dedicated to the Holy Trinity, the monastery took the name of Saint Clement after Pope Adrian II granted it the saint’s relics, brought from Rome. Saracen raids struck the valley around 915–920. Major rebuilding followed in the eleventh and twelfth centuries under abbots Grimoaldo and Leonate, producing much of the Romanesque-Gothic façade seen today. Earthquakes in 1349 and 1456 damaged the complex and the loss of the transept arms altered the church’s original plan.