San Gemini - Abbazia di San Nicolò

San Gemini was probably founded by people having abandoned the Roman settlement of Carsulae, now an archeological area, about 5kms north.

The "Regesto di Farfa" from 1036 is the first document that mentions the city as well as the "Abbey of San Nicolò". The abbey was built on older foundations in the 11th century and has undergone numerous alterations and restoration works through the centuries.

It is privately owned, but fortunately a friendly gentleman unlocked the doors for us. Mille grazie!

The portal to the abbey´s church is the by far most important carving here. What you see here is actually a (pretty good) copy, as the original was sold in 1939 to some antique dealers - and then was aquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it is on dislay today. This is detail of the doorway´s let side. A snake approaching a bird's nest from above. The two nestlings have no chance at all.

Here is what the Metropolitan Museum writes about

"This doorway is an example of the reuse of materials during the life of a single medieval church. All of the marble used to make the doorway originally came from the ruins of nearby Roman buildings. Displaying an array of styles and techniques, the principal elements were carved at different times in the eleventh century. The lions were possibly made for another location and then inserted in the portal. The whole was assembled for the church one to two centuries later. The animal imagery used in decorating the portal may refer to medieval bestiaries, books that combined descriptions of animal life with legend, thereby investing the animals depicted here with symbolic significance."

Here is the website:

www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/468207