Abbazia di Sassovivo

The Abbey of Sassovivo occupies a wooded hillside above the Menotre valley near Foligno. Its church and monastic buildings are centred on a Romanesque cloister of paired marble columns and mosaic decoration.

Why it matters

Founded by hermits in the late eleventh century, the abbey became the centre of a Benedictine congregation with houses across Umbria. The surviving complex preserves the scale and artistic ambition of this former monastic network.

What to notice

The cloister, begun in 1229, is formed by 128 paired columns and 58 round arches. Many columns have spiral fluting, and the capitals carry carved foliage and figures. Mosaic bands decorate the cornices. The central courtyard contains a marble cistern dated 1340, with a wellhead added in 1623. The complex also preserves a loggia with early-fifteenth-century fresco fragments and a refectory painting of the Last Supper dated 1595.

Context and history

The hermit Mainardo established a community here in the second half of the eleventh century. The abbey grew in importance over the following centuries, then declined after it was placed in commendam in 1467 and transferred to Olivetan monks in 1484. The monastery was suppressed in 1860. In 1979 the Bishop of Foligno entrusted the complex to the Little Brothers of Jesus Caritas, whose community continues to live here.