Sesto al Reghena
The abbey of Santa Maria in Sylvis
In the plain of western Friuli, near the border with the Veneto, the small village of Sesto al Reghena, one of the "Borghi più belli d'Italia", grew up around one of the oldest and most important abbeys of north-eastern Italy: the Abbey of Santa Maria in Sylvis, "in the woods", founded in the eighth century by three Lombard noble brothers, Erfo, Anto and Marco, sons of the Duke of Friuli, at a time when this area was covered by thick forests. Over the centuries, the Benedictine abbey became very powerful, with vast lands and jurisdiction over many villages, and in the tenth century, after the Hungarian invasions, it was surrounded by walls, towers and moats, taking on the appearance of a fortified abbey, which it still preserves today.
Entering through the Torre Grimani, the entrance tower, and crossing the old drawbridge, you reach a large square surrounded by the abbey buildings, the abbot's residence and the Abbey Church, of Romanesque origin, with a vestibule and an atrium decorated with frescoes. Inside, the church preserves a cycle of fourteenth-century frescoes of the school of Giotto, with stories of the life of Christ and the Last Judgement, and in the crypt the precious urn of Saint Anastasia, a Lombard sarcophagus of the eighth century finely carved with symbols, and a beautiful sculpture of the Pietà. The abbey is surrounded by a park with streams and water mills, and in summer it hosts concerts and a music festival.
Tip: visit the crypt with the urn of Saint Anastasia; walk around the walls along the moat to see the fortified abbey from outside.
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