Identifier: southernitalysic00karl (find matches)
Title: Southern Italy and Sicily, with excursions to Malta, Sardinia, Tunis, and Corfu : handbook for travellers
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Karl Baedeker (Firm)
Subjects:
Publisher: Leipzig : K. Baedeker London : Dulau New York : C. Scribner's Sons
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
ed in Latin above the entrance.The principal door of the church is of bronze and is inscribed with a list.,inlaid in silver, of all the possessions of the abbey in 1066. It was executedat Constantinople by order of the Abbot Desiderius, afterwards (1086) PopeVictor III. The interior is decorated with marble, mosaics, and paintings.On each side of the high-altar is a sepulchral monument; one to the memoryof Piero deMedici, who was drowned after the battle on the Garigliano(p. 19), executed in 1525 by Francesco da Sangallo by order of Clement VII.;the other that of Guidone Fieramosca, last Prince of Mignano. Beneath thehigh-altar, with its rich marble decorations, repose the remains of St. Bene-dict and St. Scholastica. The choir-stalls are adorned with admirable carv-ing (by Coliccio, 1696), and the chapels adjoining the altar with costlymosaics. In the choir also are four paintings by Solimena^ while there areother fine carvings in a chapel (ca. 1560) and in the sacristy (1749). Above
Text Appearing After Image:
the doors and on the ceiling are frescoes by Luca Giordano (1677), repre-senting the miracles of St. Benedict and the foundation of the monasteryand church. — The Crypt, containing some damaged paintings by Marcoda Siena and Mazzaroppi ^ is now being decorated with mosaics and marblereliefs by the monl<s of Beuron in the same style as the work mentionedat p. 6. — In the Refectory is a Miracle of the Loaves, by Bassano. At a very early period the Library was celebrated for the MSS.executed by the monks. To the Abbot Desiderius of the 11th cent, weare probably indebted for the preservation of Varro, and perhaps of otherauthors. The handsome saloon at present contains a collection of about10,000 vols., among which are numerous rare editions published during theinfancy of the printers art. The MSS. and documents are preserved in theArchives, in the passage leading to which a number of inscriptions are builtinto the wall, most of them rescued from the ruins of the ancient Casinum.Amsouthernitalysic00karl

Note About Images