Fossanova Abbey

Abbey of Fossanova.

Fossanova Abbey, earlier Fossa Nuova, is a Cistercian monastery in Italy, in the province of Latina, near the railway-station of Priverno, c. 100 kilometers south-east of Rome.

It is the finest example of a Cistercian abbey, and of the Burgundian Early Gothic style, in Italy, and dates from the end of the 12th to the end of the 13th century. The church (1187-1208) is closely similar to that of Casamari and also of the great church at Citeaux. The nave at Fossanova dates from 1187 and the church was consecrated in 1208. The other conventual buildings also are noteworthy.

At Fossanova there are buttresses set against the walls but they are small and more like classical pilasters than any form of flying buttress.

En route to the Second Council of Lyon in 1274, the Dominican scholastic Thomas Aquinas died in the abbey on 7 March.

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links

• Fossanova Abbey website
• Virtual tour on Lazio's cultural heritage site
• Adrian Fletcher’s Paradoxplace – Fossanova pages – Photos of Cistercian Abbeys

Coordinates: 41°26′17″N 13°11′45″E / 41.438055555556°N 13.195833333333°E / 41.438055555556; 13.195833333333