ABBAZIA DI SAN VINCENZO AL VOLTURNO
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Benedictine abbey with a recently rebuilt church and monastery.
Halfway between Castel San Vincenzo and Cerro al Volturno, this Benedictine abbey depended on that of Montecassino. Located at the foot of the Mainardi, it was founded in 705-707 by three noblemen from Benevento, on the site of an oratory dedicated to San Vincenzo.
Built by reusing the ruins of a Roman villa abandoned at the end of the sixth century, it was one of the largest abbeys of its time. It revived the colonization of the valley and the cultivation of land that had been abandoned until then. It is at the origin of some of the current characteristics of the landscape such as the terraces, the irrigation channels and the low walls separating the cultivated plots.
In 882, it was the target of a final raid that ravaged the entire valley. In 886, in response to the evils it had just endured, the abbey received an imperial diploma followed by a decree from the Lombard prince of Capua and Benevento authorizing it to build towers and castles to protect itself: the fortresses that still dominate the course of the Volturno today are the result. Controlling the passage, these towers and castles were built mostly on the remains of ancient Roman or Byzantine fortifications. In 1359, the abbey was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake and then rebuilt on the initiative of Idelfonse Rea, the rebuilding abbot of Montecassino. The church and the monastery have recently been rebuilt following the plans of the original structure.