Casamari Abbey

Casamari Abbey takes its name from the Ancient Roman place name Casa Marii, the birthplace of the famous Roman Consul Gaius Marius.

The abbey complex was consecrated in 1217 and is one of the greatest standing examples of Cistercian Gothic architecture. The construction of the monumental church, which was inspired by the Bernardine model of the great French abbeys, along with its cloister, chapter house and refectory, remain intact.

The rooms next to the cloister house a museum and art gallery, with prehistoric finds, Roman antiquities and priceless seventeenth-century paintings. The abbey perimeter is home to 500,000 volumes in a public library.