Badia di Cava dei Tirreni: Abbazia benedettina monumento nazionale

L’Abadía de Cava de’ Tirreni fue fundada por San Alferio Pappacarbone que, retirado en 1011 en el valle del Selano, bajo la gran cueva Arsiccia, para llevar vida eremítica, fue inducido por la llegada de discípulos a construir un monasterio de modestas dimensiones con anexa pequeña iglesia.

La Abadía de Cava de’ Tirreni tiene más de un milenio de vida: diez siglos de historia monástica ininterrumpida desde que San Alferio fundó ese cenobio con feliz intuición en la elección del sitio.

Una vitalidad inagotable y una política cultural iluminada han caracterizado esta y otras famosas abadías benedictinas siguiendo la estela de la célebre Abadía de Montecassino, que en el pasado también fue modelo de esplendor y elegancia. Por otro lado, las prósperas finanzas de la abadía de Cava, poseedora de vastos terrenos en el Sur, permitían a los abades contratar a los artistas más prestigiosos y actuales del momento y utilizar a otros, de menor nivel, de manera más continua.

What to See in the Abbey of Cava de’ Tirreni

Basilica of the Holy Trinity

Expanded and transformed into a multi-nave basilica during the time of Saint Peter I abbot (1079-1123), the Abbey emerged from the local sphere, heading a vast monastic congregation (Ordo Cavensis). In 1394, Pope Boniface IX elevated it to a bishopric, placing it at the head of a diocese.

The current basilica was instead built in 1761 at the initiative of abbot D. Giulio De Palma and designed by the architect Giovanni del Gaizo. The interior, especially after the modern wall cladding and flooring with polychrome marbles, is bright and harmonious. Of the ancient basilica, besides the Cosmatesque style marble ambo from the 12th century, remain two chapels on whose altars are placed fine sculptures by Tino da Camaino, commissioned by the abbot and royal counselor Filippo de Haya: on the altar of the first chapel on the left, which features an 11th-century antependium, there is a relief depicting the Madonna with Child between Saint Benedict and Saint Alferius who presents the abbot de Haya to the Madonna.

Basilica Altar

On the altar of the second chapel on the right, there are two groups of the pious women and the Roman soldiers at the foot of the cross. Just after the balustrade, on the walls, four marble statues including remarkable 16th-century ones of Saint Felicity and Saint Matthew.

Moving on, on the right is the grotto cell of Saint Alferius, with the urn holding his relics; on the left, the altar of Saint Leo with his urn and, on the wall, other relics of saints. The frescoes of the basilica are the work of the Calabrian painter Vincenzo Morani, who in 1857 depicted on the vault of the choir “S. Alferius in contemplation of the Holy Trinity.”

Dome and Fountain

In the dome there is a vision of the Apocalypse; in the right transept “The Death of St. Benedict“; on the left, the “Resurrection” with prophets and apostles. Beneath the 12 altars of the basilica are deposited the relics of the 12 holy abbots. Next to the church, a fountain made in 1772 by Tommaso Liguoro is noteworthy.

The Cloister of the Abbey of Cava de’ Tirreni

The small cloister of the 11th-13th centuries, though of modest proportions, is the most evocative and characteristic part of the abbey of Cava de’ Tirreni: although it has undergone several alterations, its structure recalls the contemporary Amalfi cloisters and those of San Domenico in Salerno and Santa Sofia in Benevento, divided into quadriforas with horseshoe arches, evidencing Muslim influences.

Adjacent to the small cloister is the great Chapter Hall, from the 13th century, where some fine Roman sarcophagi are placed, mostly attributed to the 3rd century AD. Also very evocative are the rooms, of different epochs – built from the 9th-10th century with successive 12th-century renovations – located in the abbey and small cloister’s basements, the so-called “Lombard cemetery,” used as a cemetery for monks and secular individuals who, out of devotion, wished to be buried there.

Museum of the Abbey of the Holy Trinity

Many works of the Museum of the Abbey of Cava de’ Tirreni can be admired in their original location or in that acquired during the various modernizations. Others were arranged in the Museum, which occupied three evocative rooms belonging to the ancient Palatium of the late 13th century, reserved for guests. Other works became part of the monument’s collections after their execution, such as the altarpiece painted for the church of San Cesareo by Agostino Tesauro or the round painting executed by Francesco Penni based on a design by Raphael.

Following the extensive sample of protomes, amphorae, Roman sarcophagi, and fragments of medieval sculptures in the first room are precious and elegant 14th-15th century paintings of the Sienese school, a polychrome wooden statue depicting a Madonna with Child attributable to the same period, and a large collection of 16th-century panel paintings.

The substantial sequence of canvas paintings, which due to long deposit status lack the most updated critical appraisal, is hosted in the recently renovated room. Essential or idyllic interpretations of famous biblical subjects, crowded scenes of battles or mystical gatherings, imposing depictions of church doctors and ecstatic saints allow an ideal journey spanning two centuries of painting, the 17th and 18th, in significant manifestations of naturalistic, classicist or baroque craftsmanship and in the format of large paintings or sketches.

In the display cases are exhibited objects in metal, porcelain, ivory, and ceramics of different eras and workshops. Among others stand out a 12th-century ivory box of delicate Byzantine craftsmanship, rare examples of medieval ceramics, probably products of the convent workshops themselves, a fine sample of 18th-century Abruzzese plates, 15th-century Neapolitan majolica tiles, and precious liturgical vestments. A 14th-century nautical chart and some choral books, arranged in two showcases, provide only a glimpse of the precious paper and parchment material that the Abbey preserves in its very rich archive.

Library of the Abbey of Cava dei Tirreni

Within the abbey complex is located the Library, one of the eleven annexed to the National Monuments, with an attached Archive whose origins date back to the foundation of the monastery itself (11th century) to supply books to the monks, as provided by the Rule of Saint Benedict.

The archive, housed in two late 18th-century rooms, includes precious parchment and paper manuscripts, more than fifteen thousand parchments, the oldest dating back to 792 AD. Among the most famous codices are: the Visigothic Bible of the 9th century, the Langobard Laws Codex of the 11th century, the Etymologiae by Isidore of the 8th century, the De Temporibus by Bede of the 11th century, and the De septem sigillis by Benedict of Bari of the 12th century, at the margins of which monks noted the most important events of the abbey and the contemporary world. These marginal notes make up the Annales Cavenses, published several times.

As for the parchments, private documents are organized chronologically and kept in the diplomatic room’s chests, each containing 120 parchments, while public documents are in the large chest in number over seven hundred. The documents already published in the Codex Diplomaticus Cavensis date from 792-1080 and are precisely 1669. Consultation is facilitated for scholars by a Regestum Pergamenarum. The adjacent library, distributed in three rooms, holds over 80,000 volumes with numerous incunabula and important 16th-century prints.

Those who greatly contributed to the library were, on the contrary, the monks of St. Justina (many incunabula bear annotations of purchases made in Venice specifically for Cava), the abbot D. Vittorino Manso (he was the first to separate printed books from manuscripts and to safeguard the library’s integrity; in 1595, he obtained from Pope Clement VIII a bull forbidding the removal of books from the library under threat of excommunication), and abbot D. Filippo De Pace (his name appears in thousands of volumes). The library suffered serious damage on Christmas Eve 1796, when an earth and stone mass from the overlying Corpo di Cava collapsed, which “totally ruined” the library, as a news report states: many books and some manuscripts were certainly lost in the disaster.

In the nineteenth century, the library of the Benedictine monks was spared from natural elements but was besieged by the storms of governments: the suppression of religious orders struck the abbey in 1807 by the King of Naples Joseph Bonaparte and in 1866 by the Savoy King Victor Emmanuel II. In both cases, the abbot was left responsible—in 1807 as director of the Establishment and in 1867 (under a new law) as conservator of the National Monument—while some monks remained as custodians, effectively making the library state property.

This legal status has remained unchanged to this day. The monks, for their part, have continued to devote themselves to the management with the same care applied to the preservation and expansion of the book collection. As in the past, acquisition has favored and favors disciplines most suitable for a monastic library: patristics, theology, law, and history.

Guided tour Badia di Cava de’ Tirreni

Guided tours every weekday and holiday, hours: from 8:30 to 12:00 for groups it is preferable to book and arrange different times. Phone: 089.463922/347 1946957

Itinerary: Cathedral, Chapel of the Holy Fathers of Cava, Grotto of Saint Alferio, The Ancient Chapels with 11th-century altars, Romanesque Cloister, Ancient and New Chapter Hall, Chapel of Saint Germano, Catacombs, Lombard Cemetery, Museum.

Badia di Cava de’ Tirreni Mass Times

Weekdays

• 7:30 AM – HOLY MASS WITH GREGORIAN CHANTS
• 4:00 PM – VESPERS WITH GREGORIAN CHANTS

Sundays and holidays

• 11:00 AM – HOLY MASS WITH GREGORIAN CHANTS
• 4:00 PM – VESPERS WITH GREGORIAN CHANTS

Basilica Cava de’ Tirreni Hours

Open on weekdays

• Morning: 07:15 – 12:00
• Evening: 16:30 – 18:30

Sundays and holidays

• Morning: 08:15 – 12:15
• Evening: 16:30 – 18:30
• Confessions from 9:30 to 10:30