Fossanova Abbey

Where: Priverno
Best for: Cistercian Gothic
Allow: 1 hour
Tickets: Free

Fossanova is the first great Gothic building in Italy, a Cistercian abbey in the Lepini foothills near Priverno. Monks began work in 1187 on the site of an earlier Benedictine house, and Pope Innocent III dedicated the altar in 1208.

The church is austere by design: a three-aisled plan with a transept, a rose window and an octagonal crossing tower, all in pale stone. Around the cloister, which blends Romanesque and Gothic arches, the chapter house and refectory (with its reading pulpit) have survived. Thomas Aquinas died here on 7 March 1274, on his way to the Council of Lyon, and a memorial to him remains. A small medieval museum sits in the village guesthouse.

Five things worth finding

If you see nothing else, see these.

The Cistercian churchBegun 1187, altar dedicated 1208
A three-aisled Gothic church with a rose window and an octagonal crossing tower, austere by design.Abbey church
The cloisterRomanesque and Gothic arches
Arches on three sides in Romanesque style and a later Gothic side, with a thirteenth-century lavabo.Beside the church
The chapter houseThirteenth century
A two-nave hall with ribbed vaults on clustered piers.Off the cloister
The refectory pulpitMedieval
The reading pulpit from which a monk read aloud to others eating in silence.Refectory
Thomas Aquinas’s cellSeventeenth-century marble relief
The room where Thomas Aquinas died in 1274, now a chapel with a relief of his last lesson.Infirmary, upper floor

Plan your visit

Everything you need before you go.

Tickets: Free
Booking: No booking needed
Time needed: 1 hour
Best time: Morning or late afternoon, when the stone turns golden
Getting there: The abbey is about 5.5 km south of Priverno, off the SS156. The Priverno-Fossanova station is on the Rome to Naples line via Formia, but you will still need a taxi or car for the last stretch. There is parking at the abbey.
Accessibility: Listed by the regional museums directorate as accessible.

Free entry. The church is in use for worship: cover shoulders and knees.

Walk the cloister slowly, then look up at the crossing tower from the garden side. Have lunch in the small village before or after, since nothing else lies around the abbey.

Official website

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