Tiglieto Abbey (''Badia di Tiglieto'', also known as ''Santa Maria alla Croce de Civitacula'') is a monastery in

Tiglieto Tiglieto (, Orbasco dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa in the Italian region Liguria, located about northwest of Genoa. Tiglieto borders the following municipalities: Campo Ligure, Genoa, Masone, Molare ...

Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...

, northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It was the first

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

abbey to be founded in

,Cistercensi
/ref> and also the first outside

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The abbey is located on the left bank of the brook known as the Orba, 382 metres above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

in the

Province of Genoa The province of Genoa () was a province in the Liguria region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Genoa. It was replaced by Metropolitan City of Genoa. Overview It has an area of and a total population of about 0.9 million (2009). There are ...

, near the border of the Region of

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

History

The abbey, founded in 1120 at the instigation of Peter I of Tarentaise, was a daughter house of

La Ferté Abbey La Ferté Abbey (; ) was a Cistercians, Cistercian monastery founded in 1113 in La Ferté-sur-Grosne in the present commune of Saint-Ambreuil, Saône-et-Loire, France, the first of the Primary abbey, four great daughter-houses of Cîteaux Abbey. I ...

. The first abbot was probably Opizzone. It may have gained the name Tiglieto () after being given the estate of that name by the Margrave Anselm of Ponsone in 1131. Communities from Tiglieto settled Staffarda Abbey and Casanova Abbey as its daughter houses, both in the present Region of Piedmont. In 1205, Gerardo da Sesso was elected abbot. He became a cardinal in 1211. In 1442, through

Pope Eugenius IV Pope Eugene IV (; ; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 March 1431 to his death, in February 1447. Condulmer was a Venetian, and a nephew of Pope Gregory XII ...

, Tiglieto became an abbey ''

in commendam In canon law, commenda (or ''in commendam'') was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice ''in trust'' to the ''custody'' of a patron. The phrase ''in commendam'' was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastica ...

''. In 1648 it was turned into a family estate of the last commendatory abbot, Cardinal Raggio, and dissolved. In 1747 the area was occupied by the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

ns, who shortly afterwards were driven out by the Genoese. In 2000 Tiglieto was reoccupied by the Cistercians.

Buildings and precinct

The church is a primitive Romanesque brick

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

; the original side-chapels were removed in the 14th century to make way for a new east end. The nave was vaulted in the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

period, and a new

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

at the west end was added at the same time, as was a Baroque

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

. The conventual buildings are to the south of the church. The early Gothic

chapter house A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...

in the east range has survived, with a square chapter room with nine bays from the early 13th century and symmetrical

triforium A triforium is an interior Gallery (theatre), gallery, opening onto the tall central space of a building at an upper level. In a church, it opens onto the nave from above the side aisles; it may occur at the level of the clerestory windows, o ...

windows looking onto the central courtyard and the site of the

cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...

, no longer extant, with the dormitory with bricked-up windows in the upper storey, as have the

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christianity, Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is us ...

, the ''Fraternei'' and to the south the

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monastery, monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminary, seminaries. The name ...

building, as well as the

lay brother Lay brother is a largely extinct term referring to religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focused upon manual service and secular matters, and were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choi ...

s' block in the west, now converted for residential purposes. The entire precinct was renovated for the new community that took over the premises in 2000.

Notes

Sources

* Bedini. B.G., 1964: ''Breve prospetto delle abazie cisterciensi d’Italia'' (pp. 9–10). Casamari. *Schomann, H., 1982: ''Reclams Kunstführer Italien I.2'' (p. 411), Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam jun.

External links

Cistercensi della Certosa di Firenze: Cistercian information
* {{coord, 44, 31, 20, N, 08, 36, 13, E, type:landmark_region:IT_source:dewiki, display=title Cistercian monasteries in Italy Buildings and structures in Liguria 1120 establishments in Europe 12th-century establishments in Italy Romanesque architecture in Liguria Tourist attractions in Liguria