Overview

Below the Sacro Speco stands the monastery of Santa Scolastica, sister of San Benedetto. The sacred building is one of fourteen monasteries founded by Benedetto during his wanderings. Of these, undoubtedly the most famous is the Abbey of Monteccasino.
Unlike the other monasteries, until the end of the 12th century the monastery of Santa Scolastica was able to survive the earthquakes and the Saracen devastation. It was initially known as the "Monastery of San Silvestro" and later, around the 9th century, its name became "Monastery of San Benedetto and Santa Scolastica", arriving at its present name only in the 14th century. The peak of its splendour came between the 11th and 13th centuries.
The complexity of the building consists of a set of structures erected at different times and in different styles: the entrance is characterised by a portal on which the Benedictine motto "Ora et labora" is engraved, this is followed by three internal cloisters, each built in a different era. The first is the "Renaissance Cloister", dating back to the 16th century, next is the "Gothic Cloister" from the 14th century and finally the "Cosmatesque Cloister", from the 13th century. The bell tower dates back to the 12th century, while the church was rebuilt in the 18th century. In 1465, the first Italian printing press was set up in the monastery, the work of two German clerics A. Pannartz and C. Sweynheym, who enabled its Library, located on the north side of the Gothic cloister, to be enriched with many books and incunabula of great value. Thanks to the people who inhabited it in the past, the valley in which the Monastery of Santa Scolastica is located is still known today as the "Sacred Valley".