A Cistercian abbey in a nature reserve
In the green valley of the Fiastra and Chienti rivers, between Tolentino and Urbisaglia, in the province of Macerata, the Abbey of Santa Maria di Chiaravalle di Fiastra is one of the best preserved Cistercian monasteries in Italy. It was founded in 1142 by monks who came from the abbey of Chiaravalle near Milan, on land donated by Guarnerio II, duke of Spoleto and marquis of Ancona, and the monks used to build it the stones and bricks of the nearby ruined Roman town of Urbs Salvia, whose fragments of columns and inscriptions can still be seen in the walls. For centuries the monks reclaimed and cultivated the land of the valley, and the abbey became one of the most important economic and religious centres of the Marche.
The complex, still inhabited by a small community of Cistercian monks, includes the church, in Romanesque-Gothic style, sober and harmonious, with a large rose window and a brick façade, the cloister, the chapter house, the refectory and the cellars, the "grotte", where the monks kept wine and oil, and where today a small museum of peasant life is located. Around the abbey extends the Riserva Naturale Abbadia di Fiastra, about 1,800 hectares of countryside, owned by the Fondazione Giustiniani Bandini, which includes cultivated fields, farmhouses and the Selva, a forest of ancient oaks and hornbeams, one of the last remnants of the woods that once covered the hills of the Marche, crossed by nature trails. The abbey also has a restaurant and a shop of products made by the monks.
Tip: combine the abbey with the archaeological park of Urbisaglia, a few kilometres away; walk the trails of the Selva.
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