Abbaye du Mont-Cassin

Cassino

It was here that the Rule of Saint Benedict was written, the matrix of all Western monasticism. It is also the European monument that has been most completely destroyed, and most stubbornly raised again. The Lombards sacked it at the end of the 6^th century — the sources hesitate between 570, 577 and 589 — and the monks took refuge in Rome; Petronax re-established it around 718. The Saracens destroyed it in 883; one had to wait until 949. Abbot Desiderius rebuilt it in five years, from 1066 to 1071, in the Romanesque style of his century. The Renaissance cloister dates from 1595, the interiors from the Neapolitan Baroque. French troops plundered it in 1799.

Getting there : Open daily; museum admission charge (€6 full price); suitable dress required, visits suspended during services

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound