MONASTERIO DE SAN VINCENZO AL VOLTURNO

The monastery is located on the territory of the municipality of Castel San Vincenzo, located on the western slope of Monte Vallone in the province of Isernia. In the area there is evidence of the presence, in late Roman times, of a town and a oratory dedicated to Saint Vincent and dating from the 5th-6th century, near which three Lombard nobles , Paldo, Taso and Tato, coming from the monastery of Farfa, founded the monastery in 703, on land donated by the Duke of Benevento and located on the left bank of the Volturno.

Already favored by Duke Gisulf II, its expansion began thanks to the extensive fiscal and jurisdictional privileges granted by Charlemagne, which turned it into one of the most important European abbeys. In the 9th century its population amounted to 350 monks, with vast possessions and numerous craft activities and services. Struck by an earthquake in 848, the monastery was sacked and devastated in 881 by Saracens in the service of the Duke-Bishop of Naples Athanasius II. The survivors, who took refuge in Capua, rebuilt the monastery in 914, and the works were not completed until the end of the century thanks to the help of the emperors Otto II and Otto III.

It was the Norman presence that caused the building to be moved to the right bank of the river at the end of the 11th century: the new abbey church was consecrated by Paschal II in 1115, but the Norman occupation of Abruzzo began the decline of the monastery. lordship. Furthermore, in 1339, a new earthquake destroyed the abbey, which was progressively administered by the monks of Monte Cassino, definitively starting in 1669. The serious damage suffered during the Second World War led to a major renovation at the initiative of the monk of Cassino Angelo Pantoni , thanks to which since 1989 San Vincenzo has once again been able to host a female cenobitic community.

The current monastic center therefore includes two sites, the second of which, due to the renovations of the 20th century, preserves very few vestiges of the medieval period. Of notable importance are the remains of the first abbey, the subject of recent and repeated excavation campaigns that have brought to light structures and works of art of great value. It is accessed through the Zingara Bridge, whose current structure dates back to the 17th century. From here you can access the entrance hallway, paved with bricks and from which you can access, on the left side, the garden patio, once porticoed and connected to rooms probably used for hospitality.

The main church is San Vincenzo Maggiore, built in the mid-8th century and dedicated to the Virgin. The vestibule that precedes it has paintings on the lower part of the walls and gives access to the Hall of the Prophets, named after the frescoes of some figures among whom the prophets Jeremiah and Micah have been identified. From its south side a staircase leads to the church, structured in three naves without a transept and with three apses, whose atrium was surrounded by porticos while the western side was intended for the burials of the monks. Later, three towers were built near this sector and at the end of the façade, while in the central nave a pergula allows access to the elevated presbytery, under which the annular crypt (or Joshua’s crypt) is located, accessible from the naves. sides: embellished with frescoes depicting figures, including perhaps the abbots Joshua and Talaric, in which the relics of the titular saint were preserved. On the north side is the chapel of Santa Restituta, built in the 11th century during the period of decline of the monastery, with three naves, whose walls are decorated with frescoes (12th century) with animal and human figures inside clypei.

Of great interest is the crypt of Epifanio, part of the complex of San Vincenzo Minore: built by the abbot of the same name between 824 and 842, it is illustrated by an iconographic cycle of the Lombard school dating back to the 9th century, a particularly significant expression of the religious culture of the time, which includes episodes from the lives of Jesus and Mary, the martyrs of Saint Stephen and Saint Lawrence, female figures and archangels, as well as a repertoire of images taken from the Apocalypse of Saint John.

The complex is completed by the refectory, paved with bricks and adorned with frescoes similar to the Hall of the Prophets; the laundry room and the kitchens, the latter built in the 9th century and in which you can see the trap door to draw water from the river and the slide to eliminate waste; finally the warehouse, partially excavated in the travertine bench of the Colle della Torre, in which work tools were found. The room is located in the initial section of the western corridor, which opens to a loggia that was created by excavating the travertine wall and which has frescoes on the internal wall with geometric figures and animals. Above were terraces that housed, among other things, the bedrooms and the burial area.

Roberto Bellini for URBS REGIA

– San Vincenzo al Volturno dal «Chronicon» alla storia, a cura di Gianfranco De Benedittis, Isernia 1995.
– San Vincenzo al Volturno. Cultura, istituzioni, economia, a cura di Federico Marazzi, Abbazia di Montecassino 1996.
– Marazzi Federico – Filippone Cinzia – Petrone Pier Paolo – Galloway Timothy – Fattore Luciano, San Vincenzo al Volturno – Scavi 2000-2002. Rapporto preliminare, «Archeologia medievale», 29, 2002, pp. 209-274.
– Marazzi Federico, San Vincenzo al Volturno. L’abbazia e il suo «territorium» fra VIII e XII secolo. Note per la storia insediativa dell’alta valle del Volturno. Presentazione di Faustino Avagliano, Montecassino 2012.
– La cripta dell’abate Epifanio a San Vincenzo al Volturno. Un secolo di studi (1896-2007), a cura di Federico Marazzi, Cerro al Volturno (Isernia)-Campobasso 2013.

Abbazia di San Vincenzo al Volturno

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