An oasis of peace where the work of the monks of the last
one thousand years together with the art and the surrounding countryside
combine to make the area incredibly rich of color and full of farming
activity; the only negative aspect is that it is unfortunately very close to
one of the city dumps.
We are talking about the Chiaravalle Abbey, dominion
of the Cistercian monks from the year 1135, the year in which San Bernardo
founded his first church together with a small group of French monks.
The climate is anything but friendly due to the humid heat
but the area became a theatre of intense and patient work that transformed
the marshland into cultivated fields. To this day work and prayer dictate
the monk’s daily activities, diligent observers of the Benedictine
philosophy “ora et labora” (i.e. pray and work).
Chiaravalle - the Abbey
Even the architecture of
the Abbey is characterized by the essential and simple rhythms of the monk’s
lives, a model which gave birth to Citeaux - founding place of the
Cistercian monks who can now be found throughout Italy and the rest of
Europe.
The cloister is a fundamental part of the Abbey around which the
church, the chapter house and the refectory are built.
There is not much
remaining of the original cloister but the rows of arches, the contrast
between the plasterwork and terracotta and the green in the middle give the
air of a medieval atmosphere.
There is a stone tablet inscribed with a stork built into
the wall in the north-east corner which represents the period in which the
land was transformed from being unfertile to fertile, and the consecration
of the church where we return to the sobriety of the Cistercians.
The large
cylindrical pillars are without a base or a capital at either end and
support the cross vaults and provide stability, while the light makes the
structure seem more unified and lighter.
The interior is based on the
classic Latin cross-shape and made up of a large series of squares.
It was San Bernardo who banned decoration or otherwise,
considering it to be useless and mundane, and at the same time a dangerous
distraction to his devotion to contemplation and poverty.
However, this did
not last long and from the second half of the third century work was under
way by various noted artists.
At the end of the fourth century, Bramante
finished his “Christ at the Columns” which can now be found in the Pinacoteca di Brera, a famous Milan art gallery. Shortly afterward,
Bernardino Luini completed his fresco “Madonna della buona notte” or
“Madonna of the good night”.
This can be found at the end of the right aisle
next to the stairs that bring the monks to their sleeping quarters. Other
artists include the Della Rovere brothers and the Fiamminghini, whose
frescoes can be found on the counter facade and at the choir, not to mention
the walnut seats carved by Carlo Garavaglia in 1640.
Of all those things mentioned, none stands out so much as
the “Ciribiciaccola”, the tower built above the church dome with its
octagonal shape rising to almost 60 meters.
Chiaravalle Abbey from the Cloister: the "Ciribiciaccola"
Walkways and suspended archways,
little openings with deep shadows and various terracotta decorations
continue to the top of the cone-shaped tower. Almost like a miracle, you
feel yourself spiritually lifted as you make your way back from Chiaravalle.
Together with the richness and fruits of the soil where it is possible to
find honey, chocolate, beauty creams of various types and 100% liquorices on
sale in the Abbey’s shop, not to mention the fresh eggs, well bred rabbits
and turkeys and last but not least, compact discs of Gregorian chant which
enable you to take a little of the monks’ work and peace home with you.
The Abbey, a true oasis of peace, is very close to Milan, it's just 10
kilometers away from it and is easily reachable from downtown Milan, or from the Autostrada del Sole A1 with a car and it can be reached with several lines of the ATM public transportation system (the ATM site is in Italian only, and
you have to enter "Chiaravalle" as destination to find out the
transportation lines going to the Abbey).
The large
cylindrical pillars are without a base or a capital at either end and
support the cross vaults and provide stability, while the light makes the
structure seem more unified and lighter.
Chiaravalle Abbey from the Cloister: the "Ciribiciaccola"
