Overview
Founded around 1133 by William of Vercelli, who died there in 1142, the abbey complex experienced splendour in the Middle Ages and then declined until it was restored after the earthquake in 1980. Beyond the encircling walls are two cloisters around which the monastic buildings are arranged. Passing through a large arch, you enter the cloister on the left, facing the ruins of the main church built in 1733-40 by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro. To the right is the lower church, dating from the 12th century, in Apulian Romanesque style, with a rectangular plan and two naves. Above - reached by a stone staircase from the cloister - the upper church has inscriptions in Gothic characters on the door, in the tympanum and under the small rose window, with the dates of construction and completion of the building (1247 and 1255), the names of the abbesses who built it (Marina and Scholastica) and the original dedication to St. Luke. The interior follows the layout of the lower church but is brighter. In the right cloister stands a tall, solid defensive tower, built in 1152 with marble blocks recovered from a Roman mausoleum.
