The Romanesque Abbey of Santa Maria Assunta di Monteveglio – today in the municipality of Valsamoggia (BO) – was built next to a pre-existing 5th century church to celebrate the victory of Matilde di Canossa over Henry IV.
The church has a 12th century facade that faces West. The apses at the back are embellished with hanging arches and single windows: the bell tower was built on top of one of these. There are three naves with an elevated presbytery which can be reached by a Baroque staircase from the central nave. The altar is in red marble from Verona with a basement of five columns. Renaissance choirstalls in oak line the sides of the presbytery. The right nave holds a Lombard-era font. Beneath the presbytery, the crypt is divided into four spaces by columns and pilasters with altars in each of the three apses and a Roman-age burial stone in the central one.
The complex has two cloisters. The larger, dating to the 1400s, has an upper loggia which provided access to the monks’ cells, while the lower portico houses an ancient painted stone recording the history of the monastery. The older cloister is mostly destroyed with only one side still standing, decorated with 13th century anthropomorphic capitals.
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