Astino Abbey ( it, Monastero di Astino) is a former Roman Catholic

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

in the Astino Valley, in the

Province of Bergamo The Province of Bergamo ( it, provincia di Bergamo; lmo, proìnsa de Bèrghem) is a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. It has a population of 1,112,187 (2017), an area of , and contains 243 ''comuni''. Its capital is the city of Bergamo. ...

, region of

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It is no longer active. The buildings were restored in 2015.

History

Astino Abbey was founded around the year 1070 by a group of members of the

Vallumbrosan Order The Vallombrosians (alternately spelled Vallombrosans, Vallumbrosians or Vallumbrosans) are a monastic Religious order (Catholic), religious order in the Catholic Church. They are named after the location of Vallombrosa Abbey, their motherhouse fou ...

led by

John Gualbert Giovanni Gualberto (c. 985 – 12 July 1073) was an Italian Roman Catholic abbot and the founder of the Vallumbrosan Order. Born into a noble family, Gualberto was a predictably vain individual who sought pleasure in vanities and romantic intri ...

during a time in which, through reforms, clerics were trying to revive the Catholic Church's position. The Romanesque church and the first conventual buildings were built by Bertario, the first abbot, who supervised the abbey for 21 years until 1128. The monastery was suppressed on 4 July 1797 by the civil authorities of Bergamo. Its assets were given to the nearby hospital, founded and previously run by the monks. In 1832 the site was put to use as a psychiatric hospital, which it remained until 1892. It was then used for agricultural purposes, and was sold to private buyers in 1923. In 1973 the property was acquired by a private company for conversion into a golfing centre, but the plan ran into so much opposition that it never came to fruition, and the monastery buildings had been left neglected until 2015.

Church

The Church of "Santo Sepolcro" (of the

Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...

) was consecrated in 1117, but had been rebuilt over the centuries. The base of the belltower dates to the 12th-century, but now has a baroque superstructure. The building includes a

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

of the 15th century and a chapel to the memory of Blessed Guallo de Roniis, exiled

bishop of Brescia The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brescia ( la, Dioecesis Brixiensis) is a Latin rite suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Milan, in Lombardy (Northwestern Italy).Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using tags which will then appear here automatically -->

Bibliography

*Fulvio Adobati, Moris Lorenzi. ''Astino e la sua valle''. Clusone, Ferrari editrice, 1997. *Maria Luisa Angelini. ''I monasteri di Bergamo''. Bergamo, La Rivista di Bergamo, 1979. *Manela Bandini. ''La Valle d'Astino'', in ''Progetto il colle di Bergamo''. Bergamo, Lubrina. *Mario Locatelli. ''Bergamo nei suoi monasteri''. Bergamo ed. Il Conventino, 1986. *Mario Lupo. ''Codex diplomaticus civitatis et ecclesiae Bergomatis''. Bergamo, 1784–1788. *AA. VV. ''Il parco dei colli di Bergamo: introduzione alla conoscenza del terriotrio''. Bergamo, 1986. *AA, VV. ''La presenza dei benedettini a Bergamo e nelle bergamasca''. Bergamo, APB, 1984.

External links

* {{Coord, 45, 42, 27, N, 9, 38, 24, E, region:IT_type:landmark_source:kolossus-itwiki, display=title Churches in the province of Bergamo 11th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Romanesque architecture in Lombardy Monasteries in Lombardy Christian monasteries established in the 11th century