Valvisciolo Abbey stands in a place of pleasant beauty, suspended between the earth and the firmament, where the Lepini Mountains caress the great plain of the Agro Pontino. The ancient monastery rests on the slopes with an innate harmony, as if it had been part of that Arcadian landscape since time immemorial. Its church gazes at the sky with austere spirituality, adorned only with purity and faith. Yet the rooms of the abbey hold many messages from the past: sacred inscriptions and symbols carved in stone invite contemplation of the divine.
The origins of Valvisciolo Abbey
The origins of Valvisciolo Abbey are uncertain and lost in the mists of time. The Augustinian priest Augustin Lubin, one of the first scholars to attempt to reconstruct the history of the monastery, attests to its foundation by Greek anchorites, “Illam primitus incoluere Monachi Greci“1. These were most likely the Basilians of Saint Nilus, who settled in Lazio in the 10th century. However, it is unlikely that the monks built a real architectural complex, as they were hermits2. It is more plausible that the Basilian settled in the area simply by occupying the natural caves of Mount Corvino. Historical sources do not help us to understand how long they remained in Valvisciolo or why, at a certain point, they decided to leave the place.
The foundation by the Knights Templar
An important historian of the Abbey, the Cistercian Father Remigio Facecchia, reports that the Basilian monks “abandoned the site of Valvisciolo and never returned”. All this may have happened in the early decades of the 12th century, when the Knights Templar arrived”3. It is therefore possible that it was the Templars who founded the first nucleus of the monastery, as claimed by some knowledgeable authors of the past, such as Raymondi4, Pantanelli5 and Angeloni6. The first abbey buildings and a single-nave church dedicated to Saint Peter date back to that period. Even today, there are clear traces of the Templars’ presence in this sacred building. A small Cross Pattée, carved into the central portion of the large rose window on the façade, bears witness to the work of the powerful monastic-chivalric Order in Valvisciolo.
The Cistercian abbey
The Templars did not hold onto the Valvisciolo Abbey for long. Father Facecchia recounts that around 1166-1168, the structure was occupied by a large group of Cistercians. The monks came from the nearby monastery of Marmosolium, which was destroyed by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in retaliation against Pope Alexander III, who had excommunicated him from nearby Ninfa in 1160.
“Knowing that they would find immediate accommodation in that area of Sermoneta from where the Templars had departed, they went there and settled permanently […] to the name of the existing church, Saint Peter, they added that of their destroyed church, Saint Stephen; and to the buildings left by the Templars, making the necessary alterations for the construction of a true Abbey, they nostalgically gave the name of their lost Marmosolium”.
Don Remigio Facecchia, La badia di Valvisciolo
In addition to destroying Marmosolium, Frederick Barbarossa laid waste to Ninfa and various religious communities in the area. However, he spared the Abbey of Valvisciolo, perhaps because it was run by the Order of the Knights Templar. In fact, this had maintained a neutral political stance in the conflict between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy.
Under Cistercian leadership, during the 13th century, the place name “Valvisciolo” was used to refer to the abbey that stood in the Valley of the Nightingale (Vallis Lusciolae) or Cherry Trees (Vallis Visciolae), fauna and flora that were abundant in the Lepini Mountains during the Middle Ages.
Architecture and symbolism of Valvisciolo Abbey
The Cistercians expanded the Valvisciolo Abbey according to the architectural and stylistic dictates of their Order, oriented towards simplicity of form and contemplation. The elegant façade has a single, unadorned portal. Its lunette still preserves a few pictorial remains of a Virgin and Child, Saint Stephen and Saint Peter. A circular rose window, enclosed in a frame with concave mouldings, embellishes the upper part of the façade. The rose window consists of a ray of twelve columns converging towards a central cross.
The church has a basilica plan without a transept. Its interior reveals influences from the Gothic style from beyond the Alps, which the Cistercians also promoted in Italy. The volume is marked by rectangular pillars and pointed transverse arches that separate the three naves, each with five bays. The clerestory overlooks the central nave, with a single row of monofora windows. A slender arch, that accentuates the verticality of the structure, introduces the presbytery area, divided into two bays. The entire building is modelled on the geometric shape of the square, a symbol of harmony and perfection in creation8. The spiritual and figurative austerity, in keeping with the Cistercian philosophy of memento mori, is interrupted only by the chapel of Saint Lawrence, frescoed by Pomarancio between 1586 and 1589.
A treasure of symbolism: the cloister
In Valvisciolo, the Cistercians also built the cloister. It was the true hub of monastic life and provided access to all areas of the abbey. These included the refectory, the dormitory and the chapter house. The square-shaped cloister consists of four corridors covered by cross vaults, enclosing a central courtyard with a well. The galleries are opened up by mullioned windows with twin travertine columns supporting graceful capitals carved with phytomorphic decorations.
In the Middle Ages, the abbey cloister was not only the place where liturgical functions were performed. Its architecture, in fact, was above all a compendium of symbolism that encouraged contemplation of God and his work. Through the geometric repetition of the square, the cloister was an image of all creation. Four are the seasons, the cardinal points, and there are four fundamental elements that make up the cosmos. Moreover, the sacred space reproduced the very essence of the universe through the water of its well, the fertile soil, the air and the fire of prayer.
Along the cloister there are, in fact, one hundred and twelve columns, referring to creation and humanity as a whole. Twelve were the tribes of Israel, the apostles, the gates of heavenly Jerusalem.
Cloister capitals of the Valvisciolo Abbey
The capitals, of exceptional artistic craftsmanship, reveal a particular stylistic blend of classicism, Cistercian gothic and the tradition of local artists. The master sculptors delighted in composing Ionic volutes and a particular motif known as the water leaf. In addition, some decorative elements have important symbolic value and may be connected to the presence of the Knights Templar in Valvisciolo. These include a Flower of Life, a metaphor for resurrection, and the Agnus Dei.
Furthermore, among the volutes of another capital, there is a small engraving in the shape of a chalice, referring to the cup from which Christ drank during the Last Supper. In Christian tradition, this precious relic, called the Holy Grail, was then used by Joseph of Arimathea to collect the blood of the Saviour lying on the cross.
The Merels Board
In the cloister there is also an engraving of the Merels Board, a symbol commonly found in Cistercian sites. This pattern, consisting of three concentric squares joined by orthogonal segments, has been used since ancient times as a board for the game of filetto. In the Middle Ages, however, it took on a sacred meaning. The ritual gesture of engraving geometric lines imitated the divine work of creating and ordering the cosmos. According to the analogy between microcosm and macrocosm, the Merels Board, with its perfect proportions, encapsulated the harmony of creation. Furthermore, the game was an eschatological allegory. The eternal battle between good and evil, between light and darkness, was played out on the filetto board. Finally, it is possible that the symbol represented the plan of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem, as described in biblical texts9.
Sacred Center and Solomon’s Knot
After all, the Temple of Solomon was the ultimate sacred centre of humanity. It is precisely this building that gave its name to the Pauperes commilitones Christi templique Salomonis, namely the Knights Templar. The Order had its headquarters in Jerusalem, in the area that had once housed the Jewish Holy of Holies. In Valvisciolo, restoration work in the 1950s removed some masonry additions that covered the original plaster of the cloister walls. This brought to light graffiti, engravings, and marks that had remained hidden for centuries. Among these, it is no coincidence that we can see the symbol of the Sacred Center and some Solomon’s Knots, a metaphor for the unbreakable union between God and man.
The Sator Square of Valvisciolo Abbey
On the same plaster worn away by the passage of time, we can barely read the words “sator arepo tenet opera rotas“, forming the famous palindromic phrase of the Sator Square. The epigraph has ancient origins: Archaeologists have found it among the ruins of Pompeii, in Dura Europos in Syria and in the Roman colony of Cirencester in England. With extraordinary continuity of use, the Sator Square survived until the Middle Ages, when it was believed that this inscription had a sacred or apotropaic character. Perhaps for this purpose, to keep evil away from the abbey, we also find it in Valvisciolo.
In the cloister of the monastery of Sermoneta, however, we do not find the Sator as a magic square. Exceptionally, it is in the form of concentric rings, divided into segments.
As for the meaning of the phrase, it is a puzzle that has yet to be definitively solved. In particular, the difficulties in interpreting it stem from the unknown term arepo. Indeed, it does not appear in any other ancient texts. Some authors argue that Arepo is a proper name. Thus, the phrase should be translated as “The sower Arepo carefully holds the wheels”10. Others, such as Jérôme Carcopino, believe that the term referred to a plough used by the peoples of Gaul. Therefore: “The sower, with the plough, carefully holds the wheels”11. In any case, medieval Christian tradition interpreted the Sator inscription, represented in cosmological form in Valvisciolo, as the work of God (the sower) who governs the universe with his word.
Valvisciolo Abbey and the end of the Knights Templar
The link between Valvisciolo Abbey and the Knights Templar did not end with the arrival of the Cistercians. Father Facecchia provides a key clue:
“Around 1312, the Cistercian community of Marmosolioum suddenly grew with the arrival of a large number of other monks of the same order, coming from a monastery located in the territory of Carpineto Romano”.
Don Remigio Facecchia, La badia di Valvisciolo,
Who were these brothers who suddenly had to move to Valvisciolo? In 1312, at the request of Philip the Fair, Pope Clement V ordered the dissolution of the Order of the Temple with the bull Vox in excelso12, giving rise to the persecution of its members. It cannot therefore be ruled out that many Templars, in order to escape condemnation, took refuge in the abbey of Sermoneta, wearing the Cistercian habit. After all, the Cistercians and the Templars were to all intents and purposes brothers in faith, as they shared the teachings and rules of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.
Finally, Father Facecchia recounts a curious legend, according to which the lintels of the Templar churches suddenly broke upon the death of Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Order, burned at the stake on an island in the Seine in 1314. By a curious coincidence, the lintel of the Valvisciolo portal also shows a deep crack. And today, as the shadows lengthen at dusk and the torches flicker, in the cloister of Valvisciolo we still seem to glimpse the vague figure of a Templar who, with his eyes turned to the sky, blesses God for the beauty of creation.
Samuele Corrente Naso
Notes
- A. Lubin, Abbatiarum Italiae brevis notitia, Roma, 1693. ↩︎
- B. Capone, Vestigia templari in Italia, Edizioni Templari, 1979. ↩︎
- Don Remigio Facecchia, La badia di Valvisciolo, Tip. Eredi F. Ferrazza, Latina, 1966. ↩︎
- M. Raymondi, La badia di Valvisciolo, Notizie e ricerche con illustrazioni, Stabilimento tipografico Pio Stracca, Velletri, 1905. ↩︎
- Canonico B. De Lazzaro, Memorie storiche sulla Badia di Valvisciolo di Pietro Pantanelli, Velletri, 1863. ↩︎
- Canonico L. Angeloni, Viaggio di Sua Santità Papa Pio IX nella Città e Provincia di Velletri, Tipografia Angelo Sartori, Velletri, 1863. ↩︎
- Photo by Livioandronico2013 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, link to the original image. ↩︎
- G. Cristino, L’abbazia di Valvisciolo: un esempio di architettura cistercense fra romanico e gotico. Tracciati, proporzioni e segni, in Il monachesimo cistercense nella Marittima medievale. Storia e arte, Atti del Convegno, Fossanova-Valvisciolo, 24-25 settembre 1999, a cura di R. Castaldi, Casamari, 2002. ↩︎
- II Chronicles 4:9. ↩︎
- R. G. Collingwood, The Archaeology of Roman Britain, London, 1930. ↩︎
- J. Carcopino, Le Christianisme secret du “carré magique”, Museum Helveticum, vol. 5, n. 1, 1948. ↩︎
- B. Frale. Il Papato e il processo ai Templari. L’inedita assoluzione di Chinon alla luce della diplomatica pontificia, Viella, 2003. ↩︎
