Cistercian abbeys in Calabria: what they are and where they are located

Do you dream of visiting an authentic Cistercian abbey? Calabria is rich in traces that the Cistercian monks left as a legacy to those who followed them, or superimposed on those who preceded them.

Let's discover the places of the Cistercians in Calabria on a fascinating journey that combines history, art, spirituality and landscapes that are good for the soul and body.

From the most famous and best-preserved Cistercian abbey to the smaller monasteries, transformed over the centuries, let's discover some of the places mapped by the AISAC (Italian Association of Cistercian Sites and Abbeys).

What is the history of the Cistercian monastic order in Calabria and how widespread is it? The Cistercian monks arrived in Calabria during the Norman period, specifically under Roger II of Altavilla, around the middle of the 12th century, but they spread most widely between the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Cistercian monks replaced the rule of their predecessors with their own, also acquiring their assets. Today, these monasteries, characterised by the presence of a large Cistercian abbey at the centre of the monastic complex, are a destination for both the faithful and tourists in search of art and tranquillity. The journey in the footsteps of the Cistercian monks in Calabria takes in convents and former convents that have been transformed into true oases of peace.

Some historical data? In the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, visited in 1569 by Friar Nicola Boucherat and Vicar Dionisio De Laceronis, 14 of the 33 Cistercian abbeys surveyed were located in Calabria. The extraordinary spread of Cistercian monks in the region occurred for a specific reason: the political and religious restoration of the Latin noble order over the pre-existing Greek-Byzantine monasticism, favoured by the Altavilla family and William II, King of Sicily. During this period, the Cistercian abbey became the centre of Latin worship: all the monasteries were entrusted to clerics and bishops, almost always cadets of the Neapolitan aristocracy, who managed them and gave them to procurators and factors, creating a new urban and productive structure that in Calabria took the form of the widespread system of "grange", the "monastery-granaries" of the marinas.

The first Cistercian abbey in Calabria is Santa Maria della Sambucina in Luzzi (CS). Built around the middle of the 12th century by Cistercian monks, it soon became one of the main religious, artistic and cultural centres of the region: it was home to personalities such as Gioacchino da Fiore, founder of the monumental Florense Abbey of San Giovanni in Fiore (CS), and many other prominent figures. A place of privilege and protection by popes and emperors, Sambucina was the site of graphic excellence and the production of refined illuminated manuscripts. Among the first Cistercian abbeys, we mention Santa Maria della Matina in San Marco Argentano (CS), one of the most important in southern Italy, consecrated in 1065 in the presence of Duke Robert Guiscard and his wife Sichelgaita. Although the building is now privately owned, it still preserves the ancient Gothic chapter house, considered one of the most refined examples of Cistercian architecture in Italy.

According to the 1569 census, the other important Cistercian abbeys in Calabria, which can still be visited in whole or in part, were as follows:

• Santa Maria di Corazzo in Carlopoli (CZ), now in ruins;
• Chartreuse of Saints Stephen and Bruno in Serra San Bruno (VV) with several granges on the Ionian coast, founded by Carthusians but passed on to Cistercian monks for about a century before returning to the Carthusians;
• Santa Maria di Leucio in Acquaformosa (CS), now the Eparchy of Lungo of the Arbëreshë rite.

Very few traces remain of the other abbeys founded by Cistercian monks: Sant'Angelo de Frigillo in Mesoraca (KR), Santa Maria de Ligno Crucis in Corigliano-Rossano (CS), Santa Maria di Fontelaurato in Fiumefreddo Bruzio (CS), Santa Maria della Nova in Caccuri (KR), Santa Maria di Pressano in San Lucido (CS).