THE ABBEY OF MONTECASSINO, ITALY – Ora et Labora. Ancient portals and drugs documents, alongside Polish soldiers

http://www.italia.it/en/home.html Where in the ancient temple of Apollo, in the year 529 came a monaco – St. Benedict – who founded an oratory, writing his “Rule” (famous for its motto: “ora et labora”). Over the centuries, the monks have really worked and prayed so much, transforming the abbey in place of collection and cataloging of ancient documents. During the last world war the Abbey was almost completely destroyed, but now you can go, finding it intact. You can visit the Chapel of the Assumption (contains the only surviving painting by wartime destruction), but do not lose to enter the Cloister Benefactors (with statues of noble donors). http://www.abbaziamontecassino.org/abbey/index.php/en/

Look at the door of the church: as you see, it is closed by two doors of the year 1066, from Constantinople. Those are the three cloisters on the ground floor, all reconstructed after the Second World War (the central one, was born in 1590). A curiosity? You can go in the archive of the abbey, to see the “Placito” the year 960, a document that relates to the administration of the monastery’s property (the first example of writing in Italian vernacular). Before you go home, stop resting place of the fallen Polish units engaged in the fighting on the Gustav Line. http://www.casalesangermano.it/it/# http://www.casalefilieri.it/bandb.html