Grottaferrata
Encyclopedia
Grottaferrata, Italy is a small town and comune
in the province of Rome
, situated on the lower slopes of the Alban Hills
, 20 km south east of Rome
. It is bounded by other communes, Frascati
, Rocca di Papa
, Marino
, and Rome.
of Santa Maria, founded here in 1004 by Saint Nilus the Younger
. The founding legend
narrates that, at the spot where the abbey now stands, the Virgin Mary appeared and bade him found a church in her honour.
From Gregory, the powerful Count of Tusculum, father of Popes Benedict VIII and John XIX
, Nilus obtained the site, which had been a Roman villa
, where among the ruins there remained a low edifice of opus quadratum
that had been a sepulchral monument but had been converted to a Christian oratory
in the fourth century. Its iron window grates gave the site the name, first of Cryptoferrata then of Grottaferrata, commemorated in the coat-of-arms of the commune. From the site, a Roman bronze of a man and a cow attracted the antiquarian attention of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
, who had the group removed to Lucera.
Nilus died soon afterwards (26 December 1005) in the Sant' Agata monastery in Tusculum
. The monastic building was carried out by his successors, especially the fourth abbot, Saint Bartholomew
, who is usually considered the second founder. Building materials scavenged from the ruined villa were incorporated into the new structure, marble columns, sections of carved cornice, and blocks of the volcanic stone called peperino. The sanctuary was complete enough in 1024 to be consecrated by the Tusculan Pope John XIX.
The high repute of the monks attracted many gifts; eleventh- and thirteenth-century mosaics remain, but of the ambitious ensemble of Cosmatesque
inlay, only the polychrome stone paving remains. The abbey's possessions in lands were numerous and widespread, and in 1131 King Roger II of Sicily
made the abbot Baron of Rossano
with an extensive fief. Between the 12th and 15th centuries the monastery suffered from the continual strife of warring factions: Romans and Tusculans, Guelphs and Ghibellines
, popes and antipopes, Colonna
and Orsini. From 1163 till the destruction of Tusculum in 1191, the greater part of the monastic community sought refuge in a dependency of the abbey, the Benedictine protocaenobium of Subiaco
.
In the middle of the 13th century the Emperor Frederick II
made the abbey his headquarters during the siege of Rome, while in 1378 Breton and Gascon mercenaries held it for the antipope Clement VII. The fifteenth century saw the bloody feuds of the Colonna and the Orsini raging round the walls. According to the humanist Ambrogio Traversari, in 1432 the appearance of the abbey was that of a barracks rather than a monastery.
In 1462 began a line of non-resident abbots in commendam
, fifteen in number, of whom all but one were cardinals
. The most distinguished were the Greek Bessarion, Giulio della Rovere (afterwards Julius II), and the last of the line, Cardinal Consalvi, secretary of state to Pius VII. Cardinal Bessarion, himself a Basilian monk
, increased the scanty and impoverished community and restored the church. Cardinal Giulio della Rovere, for more selfish motives, erected the castle and surrounded the whole monastery with the imposing fortifications that still exist. Cardinal Alessandro Farnese replaced the ceiling. Gian Lorenzo Bernini
was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Barberini
to provide the high altar, completed in 1665.
Till 1608 the community was ruled by priors dependent on abbots in commendam, but in that year Grottaferrata became a member of the Basilian congregation founded by Gregory XIII. The revenues of the community were separated from those of the commendatory abbots, and the first of a series of triennially appointed regular abbots was appointed. The triennial system survived the suppression of the commendam and lasted till the end of the nineteenth century, with one break from 1834 to 1870, when priors were appointed by the Holy See
. In 1901, new constitutions came into force and Arsenio Pellegrini was installed as the first perpetual regular abbot since 1462.
The Greek Rite which was brought to Grottaferrata by St. Nilus had lost its native character by the end of the twelfth century, but was restored by order of Leo XIII in 1881. The Basilian abbey has always been a home of Greek learning, and Greek hymnography flourished there long after the art had died out within the Byzantine Empire. Monastic studies were revived under Cardinal Bessarion and again in 1608.
On August 11, 1901, the first electricity reached Grottaferrata from the hydroelectric plant in S. Bartholomew fall.
In 1937, the monastery was made a territorial abbacy of the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church.
designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger
, with an arcade of nine bays supported by slender columns with Renaissance capitals.
Of the abbey church consecrated by John XIX in 1024, little can be seen in the interior except the mosaics in the narthex
and over the triumphal arch, the medieval structures having been covered or destroyed during the "restorations" of various abbots in commendam
. Some fragmentary thirteenth-century frescoes were revealed in a partial restoration of the church in 1904 to commemorate its novecentennial, when it was made a Roman basilica
. The mosaics portray the Twelve Apostles sitting beside an empty throne, evoking Christ's ascent to Heaven. Domenichino's frescoes, commissioned by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese in 1608, can be seen in the chapel of St. Nilus. Annibale Carracci
executed the altarpiece of the Madonna with Child with St. Nilus and St. Bartholomew.
The modern portico protects the ancient façade; the marble portal with a mosaic above it, an example of Italo-Byzantine art of the twelfth century. In the interior is a baptismal font supported on winged lions, of the tenth or eleventh centuries. Noteworthy also is the Romanesque campanile
(twelfth century), with five storeys of tripartite arched windows.
The library of the Abbey, which contains some 50,000 volumes, has a paper conservation Laboratorio di Restauro, which was entrusted with the conservation of Leonardo
's Codex Atlanticus
from the Biblioteca Ambrosiana
; the library houses writings of St. Nilus and his pupils and a rare copy of Alvise Cadamosto's collected travel accounts, printed in the early sixteenth century.
Pope Benedict IX
died and was buried in this abbey.
, France
. Patmos
, Greece
. Bisignano
, Italy
Bracigliano, Italy Oria
, Italy Rofrano
, Italy Rossano
, Italy Sant'Elia Fiumerapido
, Italy San Mauro la Bruca
, Italy
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
in the province of Rome
Province of Rome
The Province of Rome , is a province in the Lazio region of Italy. The province can be viewed as the extended metropolitan area of the city of Rome, although in its more peripheral portions, especially to the north, it comprises towns surrounded by rural landscape.-Geography:The Province of Rome...
, situated on the lower slopes of the Alban Hills
Alban Hills
The Alban Hills are the site of a quiescent volcanic complex in Italy, located southeast of Rome and about north of Anzio.The dominant peak is Monte Cavo. There are two small calderas which contain lakes, Lago Albano and Lake Nemi...
, 20 km south east of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. It is bounded by other communes, Frascati
Frascati
Frascati is a town and comune in the province of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum. Frascati is closely associated with science, being the location of several international scientific...
, Rocca di Papa
Rocca di Papa
Rocca di Papa is a small town and comune in the province of Rome, Lazio, Italy. It is one of the Castelli Romani about 25 km south east of Rome on the Alban Hills. It is bounded by the other communes of Velletri, Rocca Priora, Monte Compatri, Grottaferrata, Albano and Marino...
, Marino
Marino, Italy
Marino is an Italian city and comune in Lazio , on the Alban Hills, Italy, 21 km south east of Rome, with population of 37,684 and a territory of 26.10 km2...
, and Rome.
History
The history of Grottaferrata identifies largely with that of the Basilian MonasteryBasilian monk
Basilian monks are monks who follow the "Rule" of Saint Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea. The chief importance of the monastic rules and institutes of St. Basil lies in the fact that to this day his reconstruction of the monastic life is the basis of most of the monasticism practiced in the...
of Santa Maria, founded here in 1004 by Saint Nilus the Younger
Saint Nilus the Younger
Saint Nilus the Younger was an Italian saint.-Biography:Born to a Greek family of Rossano, in the Byzantine Theme of Calabria, for a time he was married and had a daughter...
. The founding legend
Origin myth
An origin myth is a myth that purports to describe the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the cosmogonic myth, which describes the creation of the world...
narrates that, at the spot where the abbey now stands, the Virgin Mary appeared and bade him found a church in her honour.
From Gregory, the powerful Count of Tusculum, father of Popes Benedict VIII and John XIX
Pope John XIX
Pope John XIX , born Romanus, was Pope from 1024 to 1032.He succeeded his brother, Pope Benedict VIII , both being members of the powerful house of Tusculum...
, Nilus obtained the site, which had been a Roman villa
Roman villa
A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...
, where among the ruins there remained a low edifice of opus quadratum
Opus quadratum
Opus quadratum is an ancient Roman construction technique, in which squared blocks of stone of the same height were set in parallel courses, often without the use of mortar.-Technique:...
that had been a sepulchral monument but had been converted to a Christian oratory
Oratory (worship)
An oratory is a Christian room for prayer, from the Latin orare, to pray.-Catholic church:In the Roman Catholic Church, an oratory is a structure other than a parish church, set aside by ecclesiastical authority for prayer and the celebration of Mass...
in the fourth century. Its iron window grates gave the site the name, first of Cryptoferrata then of Grottaferrata, commemorated in the coat-of-arms of the commune. From the site, a Roman bronze of a man and a cow attracted the antiquarian attention of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
, who had the group removed to Lucera.
Nilus died soon afterwards (26 December 1005) in the Sant' Agata monastery in Tusculum
Tusculum
Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy.-Location:Tusculum is one of the largest Roman cities in Alban Hills. The ruins of Tusculum are located on Tuscolo hill—more specifically on the northern edge of the outer crater ring of the Alban volcano...
. The monastic building was carried out by his successors, especially the fourth abbot, Saint Bartholomew
Saint Bartholomew the Younger
Saint Bartholomew was an Italian monk. A follower of Saint Nilus, upon the former's death he attended the completion of the Abbey of Grottaferrata , of which he is considered the second founder.- References :...
, who is usually considered the second founder. Building materials scavenged from the ruined villa were incorporated into the new structure, marble columns, sections of carved cornice, and blocks of the volcanic stone called peperino. The sanctuary was complete enough in 1024 to be consecrated by the Tusculan Pope John XIX.
The high repute of the monks attracted many gifts; eleventh- and thirteenth-century mosaics remain, but of the ambitious ensemble of Cosmatesque
Cosmatesque
Cosmatesque, or Cosmati, is a style of geometric decorative inlay stonework typical of Medieval Italy, and especially of Rome and its surroundings. It was used most extensively for the decoration of church floors, but was also used to decorate church walls, pulpits, and bishop's thrones...
inlay, only the polychrome stone paving remains. The abbey's possessions in lands were numerous and widespread, and in 1131 King Roger II of Sicily
Roger II of Sicily
Roger II was King of Sicily, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, later became Duke of Apulia and Calabria , then King of Sicily...
made the abbot Baron of Rossano
Rossano
Rossano is a town and comune in Southern Italy, in the province of Cosenza . The city is situated on an eminence c. 3. km from the Gulf of Taranto. The town is known for its marble and alabaster quarries....
with an extensive fief. Between the 12th and 15th centuries the monastery suffered from the continual strife of warring factions: Romans and Tusculans, Guelphs and Ghibellines
Guelphs and Ghibellines
The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in central and northern Italy. During the 12th and 13th centuries, the split between these two parties was a particularly important aspect of the internal policy of the Italian city-states...
, popes and antipopes, Colonna
Colonna family
The Colonna family is an Italian noble family; it was powerful in medieval and Renaissance Rome, supplying one Pope and many other Church and political leaders...
and Orsini. From 1163 till the destruction of Tusculum in 1191, the greater part of the monastic community sought refuge in a dependency of the abbey, the Benedictine protocaenobium of Subiaco
Subiaco, Italy
Subiaco is a town and comune in the Province of Rome, in Lazio, Italy, from Tivoli alongside the river Aniene. It is mainly renowned as a tourist and religious resort for its sacred grotto , in the St. Benedict's Abbey, and the other Abbey of St. Scholastica...
.
In the middle of the 13th century the Emperor Frederick II
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
made the abbey his headquarters during the siege of Rome, while in 1378 Breton and Gascon mercenaries held it for the antipope Clement VII. The fifteenth century saw the bloody feuds of the Colonna and the Orsini raging round the walls. According to the humanist Ambrogio Traversari, in 1432 the appearance of the abbey was that of a barracks rather than a monastery.
In 1462 began a line of non-resident abbots in commendam
In Commendam
In canon law, commendam was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice in trust to the custody of a patron...
, fifteen in number, of whom all but one were cardinals
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
. The most distinguished were the Greek Bessarion, Giulio della Rovere (afterwards Julius II), and the last of the line, Cardinal Consalvi, secretary of state to Pius VII. Cardinal Bessarion, himself a Basilian monk
Basilian monk
Basilian monks are monks who follow the "Rule" of Saint Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea. The chief importance of the monastic rules and institutes of St. Basil lies in the fact that to this day his reconstruction of the monastic life is the basis of most of the monasticism practiced in the...
, increased the scanty and impoverished community and restored the church. Cardinal Giulio della Rovere, for more selfish motives, erected the castle and surrounded the whole monastery with the imposing fortifications that still exist. Cardinal Alessandro Farnese replaced the ceiling. Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...
was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Barberini
Francesco Barberini (seniore)
Francesco Barberini was an Italian Catholic Cardinal. The nephew of Pope Urban VIII , he benefited immensely from the nepotism practiced by his uncle...
to provide the high altar, completed in 1665.
Till 1608 the community was ruled by priors dependent on abbots in commendam, but in that year Grottaferrata became a member of the Basilian congregation founded by Gregory XIII. The revenues of the community were separated from those of the commendatory abbots, and the first of a series of triennially appointed regular abbots was appointed. The triennial system survived the suppression of the commendam and lasted till the end of the nineteenth century, with one break from 1834 to 1870, when priors were appointed by the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
. In 1901, new constitutions came into force and Arsenio Pellegrini was installed as the first perpetual regular abbot since 1462.
The Greek Rite which was brought to Grottaferrata by St. Nilus had lost its native character by the end of the twelfth century, but was restored by order of Leo XIII in 1881. The Basilian abbey has always been a home of Greek learning, and Greek hymnography flourished there long after the art had died out within the Byzantine Empire. Monastic studies were revived under Cardinal Bessarion and again in 1608.
On August 11, 1901, the first electricity reached Grottaferrata from the hydroelectric plant in S. Bartholomew fall.
In 1937, the monastery was made a territorial abbacy of the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church.
Main sights
The Abbey of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata has several courts, which lead to the famous porticoPortico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger
Antonio da Sangallo the Younger
thumb|250px|The church of Santa Maria di Loreto near the [[Trajan's Market]] in [[Rome]], considered Sangallo's masterwork.thumb|250px|View of St. Patrick's Well in [[Orvieto]]....
, with an arcade of nine bays supported by slender columns with Renaissance capitals.
Of the abbey church consecrated by John XIX in 1024, little can be seen in the interior except the mosaics in the narthex
Narthex
The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...
and over the triumphal arch, the medieval structures having been covered or destroyed during the "restorations" of various abbots in commendam
In Commendam
In canon law, commendam was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice in trust to the custody of a patron...
. Some fragmentary thirteenth-century frescoes were revealed in a partial restoration of the church in 1904 to commemorate its novecentennial, when it was made a Roman basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
. The mosaics portray the Twelve Apostles sitting beside an empty throne, evoking Christ's ascent to Heaven. Domenichino's frescoes, commissioned by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese in 1608, can be seen in the chapel of St. Nilus. Annibale Carracci
Annibale Carracci
Annibale Carracci was an Italian Baroque painter.-Early career:Annibale Carracci was born in Bologna, and in all likelihood first apprenticed within his family...
executed the altarpiece of the Madonna with Child with St. Nilus and St. Bartholomew.
The modern portico protects the ancient façade; the marble portal with a mosaic above it, an example of Italo-Byzantine art of the twelfth century. In the interior is a baptismal font supported on winged lions, of the tenth or eleventh centuries. Noteworthy also is the Romanesque campanile
Campanile
Campanile is an Italian word meaning "bell tower" . The term applies to bell towers which are either part of a larger building or free-standing, although in American English, the latter meaning has become prevalent.The most famous campanile is probably the Leaning Tower of Pisa...
(twelfth century), with five storeys of tripartite arched windows.
The library of the Abbey, which contains some 50,000 volumes, has a paper conservation Laboratorio di Restauro, which was entrusted with the conservation of Leonardo
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
's Codex Atlanticus
Codex Atlanticus
The Codex Atlanticus is a twelve-volume, bound set of drawings and writings by Leonardo da Vinci, the largest such set; its name indicates its atlas-like breadth. It comprises 1,119 leaves dating from 1478 to 1519, the contents covering a great variety of subjects, from flight to weaponry to...
from the Biblioteca Ambrosiana
Biblioteca Ambrosiana
The Biblioteca Ambrosiana is a historic library in Milan, Italy, also housing the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the Ambrosian art gallery. Named after Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, it was founded by Cardinal Federico Borromeo , whose agents scoured Western Europe and even Greece and Syria for books...
; the library houses writings of St. Nilus and his pupils and a rare copy of Alvise Cadamosto's collected travel accounts, printed in the early sixteenth century.
Pope Benedict IX
Pope Benedict IX
Pope Benedict IX , born Theophylactus of Tusculum, was Pope on three occasions between 1032 and 1048. One of the youngest popes, he was the only man to have been Pope on more than one occasion and the only man ever to have sold the papacy.-Biography:Benedict was born in Rome as Theophylactus, the...
died and was buried in this abbey.
Twin cities
Vandœuvre-lès-NancyVandœuvre-lès-Nancy
Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. Its inhabitants are called Vandopériens.-Geography:...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Patmos
Patmos
Patmos is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea. One of the northernmost islands of the Dodecanese complex, it has a population of 2,984 and an area of . The highest point is Profitis Ilias, 269 meters above sea level. The Municipality of Patmos, which includes the offshore islands of Arkoi ,...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. Bisignano
Bisignano
Bisignano is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza, part of in the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is situated on hills in the Crati valley, between the Pollino and Sila National Parks .-History:...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Bracigliano, Italy Oria
Oria
-Places:Italy* Oria, Apulia, a town in the Apulia region, Province of Brindisi* Oria, Lombardy, a village in the municipality of Valsolda, in the Province of ComoSpain* Oria, Spain, a municipality in the Province of Almería, Andalusia...
, Italy Rofrano
Rofrano
Rofrano is a town and comune of the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-west Italy. It is located in the southern Cilento.-See also:*Cilento National Park*Pruno Cilento - the biggest forest of the Cilento...
, Italy Rossano
Rossano
Rossano is a town and comune in Southern Italy, in the province of Cosenza . The city is situated on an eminence c. 3. km from the Gulf of Taranto. The town is known for its marble and alabaster quarries....
, Italy Sant'Elia Fiumerapido
Sant'Elia Fiumerapido
Sant'Elia Fiumerapido is a town and comune in the province of Frosinone, in the Lazio region of central Italy....
, Italy San Mauro la Bruca
San Mauro la Bruca
San Mauro la Bruca is a town and comune in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-west Italy.-References:...
, Italy