San Pietro al Monte Abbey, Civate, Italy

Abbey of San Pietro al Monte is an ancient monastic complex of Romanesque style in the town of Civate. The site, presently not occupied by religious, consists of three buildings: the Basilica of San Pietro, the oratory dedicated to St. Benedict, and what was the monastery of which only ruin remain.

According a legend the abbey was founded in 772 AD by Desiderius, the last king of Lombardy. The oldest document dates from the 9th century. The monastery was destroyed in a war between city state of Milan and Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor. The monks returned, but were expelled in 1798.

The buildings were part of the Benedictine abbey complex of Civate, the Basilica of San Calocero and the churches of San Nazario and San Vito. Two stone portals include engravings above them. The frescoes in the basilica of St. Peter, whose theme is the final apotheosis of Christ and the Triumph of the Righteous along the lines of the Apocalypse of St. John, makes it one of the most important Lombard Romanesque testimonies.

Religious sites in Italy

User Reviews

Szymon Janiszewski (6 months ago)
Great Old Town on the lake.

bruno bergero (2 years ago)
Beautiful place with really nice views of the Annone Lake. To get there you have to walk from Civate. It’s a 45 walk following a perfectly maintained rock path that for the most part is quite steep. There are a couple of places throughout the walk where you can refill your Walter bottle. We appreciated that most of the walk was under the shade of trees.

marcello segato (2 years ago)
Must go

Jonah Liu (IG:jonah_lau) (5 years ago)
I was planning to go to see the sunrise there, so I left home at 6am from Lecco city. But it was very foggy, so I ended up having this stunning sea of clouds!

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Zvonimir Hrvoj

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San Pietro al Monte Abbey

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