Abbazia di Chiaravalle di Fiastra

In 1142 Guarnerio II, Duke of Spoleto and Marquis of Ancona, donated a large piece of land here to the Cistercians. The monks from the Abbazia Chiravalle in Milan arrived that same year and immediately began building the monastery. They used material from the ruins of the nearby Roman city of Urbs Salvia, which had been destroyed by Alaric in 408-410 and also began the reclamation of the swampy forest around.

The abbey flourished for three centuries. The monks organized their agricultural land and its influence grew to the extent that it incorporated 33 dependent churches and monasteries. In 1422 the abbey was sacked by condottiero Braccio da Montone, who destroyed the roof of the church and the bell tower, and killed a number of the monks.

Subsequently, the Pope entrusted the abbey to a group of eight cardinals as a prebend. In 1581, the abbey was assigned to the Jesuits. Finally, in 1773, after the suppression of the Jesuits, the whole area was handed over to the Bandini family. The last heir of the family left the area to the present Giustiniani-Bandini Foundation, which set up the Fiastra Abbey Nature Reserve in order to preserve this heritage.

The cloister