is a town and commune in the
Province Of Rome , situated on the lower slopes of the
Alban Hills , 41 km from the center of
Rome .
The history of Grottaferrata identifies largely with that of the Basilian Monastery of Santa Maria, founded here in
1004 by
Saint Nilus The Younger . The legend narrates that, at the spot where the abbey now stands, the
Virgin appeared and bade him found a church in her honour.
From Gregory, the powerful Count of Tusculum, father of Popes
Benedict VIII and
John XIX , Nilus obtained the site, but died soon afterwards (
26 December 1005 ) in the St. Agata monastery in
Tusculum . The building was carried out by his successors, especially the 4th abbot,
Saint Bartholomew , who is usually considered the second founder.
The high repute of the monks attracted many gifts; the abbey's possessions were numerous and widespread, and in , popes and antipopes,
Colonna and
Orsini . From
1163 till the destruction of
Tusculum , in
1191 , the greater part of the community sought refuge in a dependency of the Benedictine ''protocaenobium'' of
Subiaco .
In the middle of the 13th century the Emperor
Frederick II made the abbey his headquarters during the siege of Rome, while in
1378 Breton and Gascon mercenaries held it for the antipope
Clement VII . The 15th century saw the bloody feuds of the Colonna and the Orsini raging round the walls. According to the humanist
Ambrogio Traversari , in
1432 the appearance of they abbey was that of a barrack rather than of a monastery. In 1462 began a line of commendatory abbots, fifteen in number, of whom all but one were
Cardinals .
The most distinguished were the Greek
Bessarion , Giulio della Rovere (afterwards
Julius II , and the last of the line,
Cardinal Consalvi , secretary of state to
Pius VII . Bessarion, himself a Basilian monk, increased the scanty and impoverished community and restored the church. Cardinal Giulio della Rovere, for more selfish motives, erected the Castle and surrounded the whole monastery with the imposing fortifications that still exist. Till
1608 the community was ruled by priors dependent on the commendatories, but in that year Grottaferrata became a member of the Basilian congregation founded by
Gregory XIII , the revenues of the community were separated from those of the commendatories, and the first of a series of triennial regular abbots was appointed. The triennial system survived the suppression of the ''Commendam'' and lasted till the end of last century, with one break from 1834 to 1870, when priors were appointed by the
Holy See . In 1901 new constitutions came into force and Arsenio Pellegrini was installed as the first perpetual regular abbot since 1462.
The Greek Rite which was brought to Grottaferrata by St. Nilus had lost its native character by the end of the 12th century, but was restored by order of
Leo XIII in 1881. The Basilian abbey has always been a home of Greek learning, and Greek hymnography flourished there long after the art had died out within the Byzantine Empire. Monastic studies were revived under Cardinal Bessarion and again in 1608.
In 1937 the monastery was made a
Territorial Abbacy of the
Italo-Albanian Catholic Church .
The abbey of Grottaferrata is one of the main monuments of the Lazio. The monastery has several courts, which led to the famous
Portico designed by
Antonio Da Sangallo The Younger , with nine slender arcades supported by caloumns with elegant Renaissance capitals.
Of the abbey church consecrated by John XIX in 1024, little can be seen in the interior except the mosaics in the narthex and over the triumphal arch, the medieval structures having been covered or destroyed during the "restorations" of various commendatory abbots. The mosaics portrays the ''12 Apostles'' sitting beside an empty throne, which hints to Christ's ascent to Heaven.
Domenichino 's frescoes, commissioned by
Cardinal Odoardo Farnese , can be seen in the chapel of St. Nilus.
Annibale Carracci executed the altarpiece of the ''Madonna with Child with St. Nile and st. Bartholomew''.
The façade has mantained, in modern portico, the marble portal, an example of Italo-Byzantine art of 12th century, and a baptismal font (10th-11th century) on winged lions. Noteworthy is also the Romanesque
Campanile (12th century), with five order of a three-mullioned windows.
The Library of the Abbey houses a rare ''Cadamosto'', a collection of travel accounts printed in the early 16th century.
