The San Benedetto Monastery complex, which includes the monastery and the church, is located just below the Venetian walls, in what was once the Santo Stefano borough, is today Via S. Alessandro.
Santa Maria Novella, originally a Humiliati foundation, passed in the 14th century to the Benedictines of S. Giuliano di Bonate. The Benedictine nuns of Valmarina (there are known records of them from 1153) moved from the countryside the following century, settling just below, always along Via S. Alessandro (the Rizolo). It is known that a small church was erected in 1448, dedicated three years later to St. Benedict; architectural traces of it remain on the side of Via S. Alessandro.
After 1493 the two communities united and the new settlement grew rapidly. In 1504 construction of the new church began; already by 1516 it appeared that restoration was necessary, due to the collapsing of a wall. The new project was entrusted to the Bergamo architect Pietro Cleri known as Isabello, who had already been responsible for the rearrangement of the nuns' inner chapel, frescoed in the years 1510-15 by Jacopino de' Scipioni and workshop, later transformed into the major sacristy.
During the 18th century the church experienced further changes but, with the advent of the Cisalpine Republic in 1797 and the suppression of religious orders, the monastery was suddenly closed and its liturgical furnishings-including a silver altar, vestments and numerous furnishings-were requisitioned by the Napoleonic authority. The altarpieces suffered the same fate, in fact both Gianbattista Moroni's Assunta and Calisto Piazza's S. Stefano were transferred to the Brera Museum.
Despite the situation, the nuns were able to remain living in the monastery, albeit with a very limited community life. The monastery became one again, in name and in fact, with its restoration on May 10, 1827.
In much more recent times, the monastery has once again unveiled details of its history thanks to some work inside the sacristy-with the discovery of the fragment of a fresco of the miraculous Madonna del Pianto (Our Lady of Wailing), which made it possible to identify the ancient site of the oriented presbytery-and the flooring, carried out in the 1980s.
San Benedetto cloister
Along Via S. Alessandro opens the porticoed cloister of San Benedetto, which presents itself as an elegant entrance to the Monastery. Made by Pietro Isabello, it has a rectangular plan on six round arches, supported on three sides by sandstone columns. In the twelve lunettes, many sixteenth-century frescoes by Cristoforo Baschenis 'the Young' stand out, retracing the life of San Benedetto.
The cloister constitutes the passage between the exterior of the structure and the large monastic complex, which also has direct access to the church.
The church
The church still retains its sixteenth-century character and has a main facade and a side tripartite by pilasters; in the centre of the main façade stands an architraved portal, surmounted by a small tympanum. The building has a central plan and a dome enclosed in an octagonal lantern.
The chancel, enclosed by a wooden transenna and placed above the elegant portico, allowed celebrations to be followed at the new north-facing altar from the Isabello.
Several noteworthy works of art are preserved inside, such as a Madonna con Bambino e santi (Madonna with Child and Saints) of Lottesque influence, executed by Lucano da Imola, and the altarpiece with Il Miracolo dell’acqua che sgorga dall’arca dei santi Fermo, Rustico and Procolo (The Miracle of the Water Gushing from the Ark of Saints Fermo, Rustico and Procolo by G. P. Cavagna (1621).
The valuable wrought-iron gate is from the 17th century. Capturing one's attention is the carved and gilded wooden Communicatoio by the Ticinese Carabelli. Then all that remains is to look up and admire the dome frescoed by G. A. Orelli in 1756, which presents the scene of the Coronation of the Vergine Maria tra I santi Benedetto e Scolastica (Virgin Mary between Saints Benedict and Scholastica), and the Titulars of the various Communities that gradually joined the primitive monastic nucleus over the centuries.
The San Benedetto Monastery complex, which includes the monastery and the church, is located just below the Venetian walls, in what was once the Santo Stefano borough, is today Via S. Alessandro.
Santa Maria Novella, originally a Humiliati foundation, passed in the 14th century to the Benedictines of S. Giuliano di Bonate. The Benedictine nuns of Valmarina (there are known records of them from 1153) moved from the countryside the following century, settling just below, always along Via S. Alessandro (the Rizolo). It is known that a small church was erected in 1448, dedicated three years later to St. Benedict; architectural traces of it remain on the side of Via S. Alessandro.
After 1493 the two communities united and the new settlement grew rapidly. In 1504 construction of the new church began; already by 1516 it appeared that restoration was necessary, due to the collapsing of a wall. The new project was entrusted to the Bergamo architect Pietro Cleri known as Isabello, who had already been responsible for the rearrangement of the nuns' inner chapel, frescoed in the years 1510-15 by Jacopino de' Scipioni and workshop, later transformed into the major sacristy.
During the 18th century the church experienced further changes but, with the advent of the Cisalpine Republic in 1797 and the suppression of religious orders, the monastery was suddenly closed and its liturgical furnishings-including a silver altar, vestments and numerous furnishings-were requisitioned by the Napoleonic authority. The altarpieces suffered the same fate, in fact both Gianbattista Moroni's Assunta and Calisto Piazza's S. Stefano were transferred to the Brera Museum.
Despite the situation, the nuns were able to remain living in the monastery, albeit with a very limited community life. The monastery became one again, in name and in fact, with its restoration on May 10, 1827.
In much more recent times, the monastery has once again unveiled details of its history thanks to some work inside the sacristy-with the discovery of the fragment of a fresco of the miraculous Madonna del Pianto (Our Lady of Wailing), which made it possible to identify the ancient site of the oriented presbytery-and the flooring, carried out in the 1980s.
San Benedetto cloister
Along Via S. Alessandro opens the porticoed cloister of San Benedetto, which presents itself as an elegant entrance to the Monastery. Made by Pietro Isabello, it has a rectangular plan on six round arches, supported on three sides by sandstone columns. In the twelve lunettes, many sixteenth-century frescoes by Cristoforo Baschenis 'the Young' stand out, retracing the life of San Benedetto.
The cloister constitutes the passage between the exterior of the structure and the large monastic complex, which also has direct access to the church.
The church
The church still retains its sixteenth-century character and has a main facade and a side tripartite by pilasters; in the centre of the main façade stands an architraved portal, surmounted by a small tympanum. The building has a central plan and a dome enclosed in an octagonal lantern.
The chancel, enclosed by a wooden transenna and placed above the elegant portico, allowed celebrations to be followed at the new north-facing altar from the Isabello.
Several noteworthy works of art are preserved inside, such as a Madonna con Bambino e santi (Madonna with Child and Saints) of Lottesque influence, executed by Lucano da Imola, and the altarpiece with Il Miracolo dell’acqua che sgorga dall’arca dei santi Fermo, Rustico and Procolo (The Miracle of the Water Gushing from the Ark of Saints Fermo, Rustico and Procolo by G. P. Cavagna (1621).
The valuable wrought-iron gate is from the 17th century. Capturing one's attention is the carved and gilded wooden Communicatoio by the Ticinese Carabelli. Then all that remains is to look up and admire the dome frescoed by G. A. Orelli in 1756, which presents the scene of the Coronation of the Vergine Maria tra I santi Benedetto e Scolastica (Virgin Mary between Saints Benedict and Scholastica), and the Titulars of the various Communities that gradually joined the primitive monastic nucleus over the centuries.
