This time our friend Massimo takes us to visit a splendid abbey ,actually a former abbey, maintained in fair condition by the maintenance works of volunteers who provide also for its opening to public.

So we invite you to visit it for its cultural, artistic and historical value and also as an appreciation for the volunteers who dedicate part of their time for conservation of our heritages. Without their precious contribution (unfortunately often disregarded or even opposed) many of our heritages would be lost.

In the interior of the abbey there is an interesting Rural Life Museum

A bit of history:
Built in 1189 over the ruins of a previous church.
Until 1407 it was handled by the Augustinian monks who promoted several improvements of the territory as the remediation of the lands and the construction of roads and embankments so facilitating the repopulation of the area.
In 1407 Pope Gregory XII gave the abbey to the Camaldolese order who enhanced the Augustinian works and the monastery became one of the most important temporal and spiritual centers in Veneto.
In order to fund the war against the Ottoman Empire in 1690 Pope Alexander VIII sold the abbey and its lands to the Carminati family.
From then the abbey gradually fell in decay and all its treasures were plundered.
In 1951, after the sale of the lands, the counts Carminati (how kind of them!) gave the decrepit building to the Carceri parish.
From half 90’s a group of volunteers tries to restore to former glory the abbey and the guesthouse.

For more info:
www.abbaziadicarceri.it
facebook: Abbazia di Santa Maria delle Carceri
wikipedia: Abbazia di Santa Maria delle Carceri
magicoveneto: abbazia di carceri
wikipedia: Carceri

Thanks to our friend Massimo for the permission of publishing his images