The Cistercian Gothic where Thomas Aquinas died
In the plain at the foot of the Lepini mountains, in the municipality of Priverno, in the province of Latina, stands the Abbey of Fossanova, one of the most important monuments of medieval architecture in Italy and one of the first examples of Cistercian Gothic in the country. The Cistercian monks, who came from France, rebuilt here an earlier Benedictine monastery, and the abbey church was consecrated in 1208 by Pope Innocent III. Its name, "new ditch", recalls the drainage canal dug by the monks to reclaim the marshy land. The architecture, inspired by the great abbeys of Burgundy, is of extraordinary purity and simplicity: a sober stone façade with a large rose window and a portal, an octagonal lantern tower, and a bright interior with three naves and pointed arches, without decoration, in accordance with the Cistercian rule of poverty.
Around the church, the monastery preserves its medieval structure intact: the cloister, with its twin columns, partly Romanesque and partly Gothic, the chapter house, the refectory, the monks' dormitory and the guest house. Fossanova is linked to the memory of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the great philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages, who, while travelling to the Council of Lyon, fell ill and was taken in by the monks, and died here on 7 March 1274; the room where he died, in the guest house, has been transformed into a chapel. Around the abbey, the small medieval borgo preserves the houses of the workers and craftsmen who served the monks. Today the abbey is inhabited by Franciscan friars.
Tip: visit the cloister and the room of Saint Thomas Aquinas; attend a mass or a concert in the church to appreciate its acoustics.
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