Overview
Nonantola has ancient Roman origins but owes its fortune to the Lombards, who founded the Abbey of San Silvestro here in 752 A.D.. More precisely, it was St Anselm, the Lombard Duke of Friuli, who decided that in the Roman colony of Nonantula there should be a "twin" monastery to the one he had just founded in Fanano. Anselm acted on behalf of the Lombard king Astulf, his relative, who aimed to create a stable link between the Lombard lands of the North East and those of the South, bypassing the Byzantine territories. It is no coincidence that both the monasteries founded by Anselm are on the road to the Croce Arcana pass, an Apennine pass of strategic importance. Thus was born the communication route that today we call Via Romea Nonantolana Longobarda.
Thanks to royal protection and the ability of Anselm, who chose it as his home, Nonantola Abbey soon established itself as one of the most powerful in northern Italy and became a leading cultural centre, with its own scriptorium. It consolidated its prestige by acquiring important relics, above all the remains of Pope Saint Sylvester and the Relic of the True Cross, and becoming a stopping place for the papal entourage during the pontiffs' journeys.
In the Middle Ages, it promoted land reclamation in the Modenese plains, eventually managing some 400 square kilometres of land, including pastures, cultivated land and vineyards, rivers and fishing valleys. The abbey basilica, dedicated to St. Sylvester, has Lombard Romanesque forms dating back to the 11th century, clearly evident in the apse area. The façade has been reconstructed but the portal is original, with a lunette sculpted by artists from the Wiligelmo area. Beneath the raised presbytery is a vast crypt with 64 columns and capitals from the 8th-12th centuries. On the high altar is the ark of St. Sylvester.
On the south side of the basilica is the monastery, with frescoes from the 11th-12th centuries in the refectory and a 15th-century courtyard with a double loggia from the 15th century. The complex houses the Benedictine and Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art and the Abbey Archives, with thousands of parchments and documents dating back to before the year 1000.
