Abbazia di San Benedetto in Alpe

The Abbazia di San Benedetto in Alpe is a formidable monastic complex, its varied stone buildings arranged around a rectangular courtyard, one side of which is formed by the church’s perimeter wall. The church itself, rebuilt in 1723, is a single nave without an apse, lined with five Baroque altars, each framed by columns supporting broken pediments. The portico, however, is as old as the original abbey, its entrance arch built of large stone blocks on polygonal pillars.

Behind the presbytery, a cross-vaulted chamber survives from the earlier, far larger Romanesque church (which had three naves and a transept). Beneath it lies a crypt, its groin vaults supported by a motley collection of pillars of various sizes and workmanship. The remaining buildings are deliberately austere, with rough stonework, solid volumes, and narrow slit-like windows dressed with stone frames. It is a place of weighty, silent authority, built to last.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.