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The Farfa Abbey
and the SABINE
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Excursions list
Viterbo
Tarquinia
Caprarola,
Tuscania
Tuscia
Farfa Abbey
Tuscia wine route
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 The
antique region of the Sabine is closely linked to the myths
and legends of the rape of the Sabine women, and to the
kings of Rome Anco Marzio, and Numa Pompilio.
This area is a concentration or historic and imposing scenery.
Immersed in a multicoloured and changeable environment, the
Sabina territory extends immediately north of Rome before continuing
east through a territory that becomes gradually rougher and
mountainous, and marched by the valleys of the river Velino,
Salto and Turano which form inspiring gorges or open into delightful
lake reservoirs.
A landscape forged by events thousands  or
years old and coloured by the olives
that in the Sabine became a cultural symbol of the countryside.
It  is
here where the Abbey of Farfa stands in grandeur as one
of the most famous monuments of medieval Europe; at the height
or its splendour a vast portion of central Italy belonged to
the Abbey.The origin of the Abbey is still uncertain even though
the most recent archaeological excavations have brought to light
the existence of a development dating back to the Roman period
underneath the present-day monastery. An almost certain identification
by Lorenzo Siro and Forum Novum in 554 verified the creation
of a fervent faith centre. In 775 Carlo Magno granted the Abbey
the privilege of a total autonomy of all religious
and civil power: it was from that moment that its majesty and
wealth was born. In just a few decades the Abbey became one
of the most prestigious and well-known sites of Medieval Europe.The
semi-circular crypt is worth a visit. It dates from the Seventh
and Eighth Centuries and contains a splendid Roman sarcophagus
(late Second Century B.C.) with scenes of Romans battling barbarians.
The bell tower (Ninth to Thirteenth Centuries) has in
its base a square room containing highly interesting frescoes
- despite their deteriorated condition
- of the Roman school from the mid Eleventh Century. They depict
biblical stories and the Ascension. One of the rooms upstairs
contains, under an arch, Fifteenth Century frescoes depicting
Prophets. One can complete one's visit to the Abbey by requesting
a guided tour of the Small Longobardian Cloister (with a Romanesque
window from the Thirteenth Century) and the Large Cloister dating
back to the second half of the Seventeenth Century. The latter
has a collection of Roman sculptures and engraved inscriptions.
From here, one passes through a diamond-point portal into the
present library containing over 35.000 volumes, several valuable
codices among them. We cannot leave this Benedictine structure
without mentioning the old library and its prestigious scriptorium.
The former was certainly one of Europe's richest libraries during
its heyday at the end of the Eleventh Century, whereas the latter
was able, under Abbot Hugo I, to create a  characteristic
script of its own with a lower- case letter different from all
the others of the time: the Roman Lower-case in the Scriptorium
Pharfense becomes the Romanesca Farfense which reaches its glory
in the works of Gregorio da Catino (1062 - 1133), an author
of fundamental importance for Italian and European history of
the Middle Ages. The new Museum on the ground floor is worth
seeing although still in the course of being set up. In the
Archaic Section there is a beautiful display of archaeological
material coming from the nearby locality of Colle del Forno
and pertaining to the life of the peoples that inhabited the
ancient Sabine region (much larger than the present region.).
TheCures Pillar is the only existantexample of Sabine stone
inscription from the end of the Sixth Century B.C. and is a
unique testimonial to this italic culture, long ignored and
even today little known. The precious relic, which has still
not been completely interpreted, was found in the bed of the
Farfa Brook in March 1982. The Medieval Section includes an
Ivory casket of the Amalfi school from the second half of the
Eleventh Century, an early sixteenth Century
canvas depicting the Virgin and Child With An Angel and two
opisthographic panels from the late Fiftenth Century depicting
St. Lorenzo Siro with St. Benedict and St. Tommaso di Morienna
with St. Placido. They were painted by a pupil of Antoniazzo
Romano. After having seen the Abbey one should not leave Farfa
without first having a look at the village composed of houses
all of the same height. At one time the monks rented these houses
to the most prosperous merchants that gathered there for the
big festivals in April and September. Now there is only one
small workshop producing hand-loomed fabrics. |
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