Abbey of San Benedetto al Subasio

The Abbey of San Benedetto (729 meters above sea level) is located 6 kilometers from Assisi, immersed in the silence and nature of Mt. Subasio; from here there is a marvelous view of the town and the valley.

The monumental complex was first documented in two deeds of sale dated 1041 and 1043, which attest that in the 11th century it had already been completed and that monks were living there even before the year 1000. The building, together with thirty other churches and chapels in the Spoleto valley, belonged to Farfa Abbey in the province of Rieti, which acquired fame and prestige in the 9th to the 13th centuries thanks to imperial protection.
The importance of the monastery was such that the Abbey of San Benedetto was depicted by Giotto in the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis, in the scene in which the Saint gives his cloak to a poor knight.

After the abbey passed to the Cistercian monks, it went through period of decline in the 14th century, caused in part by the bitter fighting between Assisi and Perugia: indeed, it became a usual place of refuge for exiles from the town and was sacked and destroyed several times.
From the second half of the 1400s to the mid-1600s, the building went to the “Blue Monks,” then passed to the Congregation of San Salvatore in Lauro. With the unification of Italy and with the suppression of the religious orders, it was divided among private citizens.
In 1945 the Benedictine prior Anselmo Job reacquired what remained of the monastery and began doing restoration work on it, during which a crypt older than the abbey itself was brought to light.

The underground structure consists of a room with a semicircular apse and a vaulted ceiling supported by three columns, resting on the remains of perimeter slabs that indicate the presence of an altar (the existing altar is from a recent era). The Abbey of San Benedetto is a splendid example of Romanesque architecture with a Latin cross plan, raised chancel and cruciform crypt.

Remaining today are the perimeter walls of the single nave, partly rebuilt in the mid-20th century, and the rood screen, preceded by stairs leading up to the chancel. On the lower level there is another rectangular crypt ceiled with cross vaults supported by eight columns, connected with each other by round arches.
Walking among the remains of the church and the monastery you can relive the peace and tranquility that envelope this place, like monks did in the year 1000.