Monastery of Santa Scolastica

The Monastery of Santa Scolastica is one of the monasteries founded in Subiaco by San Benedetto da Norcia; inside is the cathedral of Santa Scolastica, seat of the ordinary abbot of the territorial abbey of Subiaco.

Originally called the Monastery of San Silvestro, here was the first Italian printing house.

Santa Scolastica is one of the 12 monasteries founded in Subiaco by San Benedetto da Norcia, the closest to that of San Clemente, where Benedict himself lived, and having been founded around the year 520 is the oldest in Italy followed by that of Montecassino, and the oldest Benedictine monastery in the world.

It was probably obtained from buildings belonging to the nearby villa of Nero.

Born with the title of San Silvestro, it soon added to the primitive title that of San Benedetto and Santa Scolastica (in the Liber pontificalis of the pontificate of Pope Leo IV it is remembered under the invocation of these three saints), but after the fifteenth century it was called only St. Scholastica.

Devastated by the Saracens in the 9th century, it was restored thanks to the support of Pope Gregory IV and Pope Leo IV.

The Romanesque church was consecrated by Pope Benedict VII on 4 December 980, the bell tower was erected in 1052 and the Cosmatesque cloister was built by Abbot Lando.

Between the tenth century and the thirteenth century the monastery acquired large assets thanks to donations from kings and ecclesiastics, becoming one of the most powerful fiefdoms of the papal state.

In 1276 the Holy See reserved the right to elect the abbots of Subiaco, but in 1456 Pope Callisto III let it fall under the regime of the commenda: commendatory abbots Juan de Torquemada, Rodrigo Borgia (who had the abbey fortress rebuilt), Antonio and Francesco Barberini, Giovan Angelo Braschi.

The commandery was suppressed by Pope Pius X in 1915 (Coenobium sublacense bull) and the abbey was restored to the common law of the abbeys nullius.

After 1770 the abbey church was rebuilt in neoclassical forms based on a project by Giacomo Quarenghi.

Belonging to the Cassinese congregation since 1514, in 1850 it was assigned to the abbot Pietro Francesco Casaretto who introduced his reform from which the congregation began and then took the name of Sublacense, today Sublacense Cassinese.

Bombed during the Second World War on May 23, 1944, the monastery was later restored.

The Library houses incunabula and books of great value. Over 50 hospitality rooms available.

Map: Monastery of Santa Scolastica