Sant'Antonio in Polesine is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

monastic complex of the nuns of the

Order of Saint Benedict The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict ( la, Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated as OSB), are a Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), religious order of the Catholic Church following the Rule of Saint Benedic ...

located in

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

, Italy and dedicated to

Anthony the Great Anthony the Great ( grc-gre, Ἀντώνιος ''Antṓnios''; ar, القديس أنطونيوس الكبير; la, Antonius; ; c. 12 January 251 – 17 January 356), was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is d ...

. Administratively, it is part of the

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

of Ferrara, part of the Archdiocese of Ferrara-Comacchio.

History

The name "in Polesine" does not refer to the area of Polesine, but to its original situation, high ground surrounded by water. The monastery, founded in the early Middle Ages by

Augustinians Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...

hermits, stood on an island in the middle of the Po River."Monastery of Sant'antonio in Polesine", Emilia Romagna Turismo
/ref> Beatrice II d’Este, daughter of marquis Azzo Novello and a Benedictine nun, received the monastery from her father as a gift for her community. Around 1257, Beatrice moved into the convent, where she died in 1264 to be beatified in 1270."Convent of St. Anthony in Polesine", Siti Unesco del' Adriatico
Since then, the monastery has been under the patronage of the House of Este.

Buildings

Sant'Antonio Abate in Polesine (Ferrara)

Only the convent church is open to the public. The church is in

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style, with a 17th-century

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

ed ceiling by Francesco Ferrari. The nuns' church has side chapels with frescoes of the school of

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/Proto-Renaissance period. Giot ...

—on the left, ''Storie dell'infanzia di Gesù e della Vita della Vergine'' done between 1315 and 1320. On the right is ''Storie della Passione''—and a central chapel with frescoes of multiple periods, including an ''Annunciazione'' of

Domenico Panetti Domenico Panetti (1460–1530) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: pr ...

(15th century) and a ceiling with 16th-century

grotesques Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

. The presence of pagan images in an ecclesiastical setting, bears witness to the close ties between the monastery and the court, where such decorations were fashionable in the late 1600s. There is also a sculpted and gilt

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

depicting the ''Flagellazione'' by

Nicolò Roselli Nicolò () is an Italian male given name. Another variation is Niccolò, most common in Tuscany. It may refer to: * Nicolò Albertini, statesman * Nicolò Amati, luthier * Nicolò Barella, Italian footballer * Nicolò Barattieri, Italian engineer ...

(16th century). The complex also 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 ...

and a monumental

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...

of the founder, Beatrice.

Notes

External links

{{Coord, 44, 49, 36, N, 11, 37, 28, E, region:IT_type:landmark_source:kolossus-itwiki, display=title Benedictine monasteries in Italy Monasteries in Emilia-Romagna Ferrara