Reserve

The objective of this guide is to accompany the reader on the discovery of an outstanding place at the gates of Milan that has always fascinated…

The objective of this guide is to accompany the reader on the discovery of an outstanding place at the gates of Milan that has always fascinated visitors. Starting from 1135, the year the abbey was founded by the abbot Bernardo di Clairvaux, we are led on a historical and artistic voyage leading right through to modern times and revealing the marvels of this complex; the first structure was repeatedly renovated over the centuries yet without losing anything of its original beauty. Development and spatial grandeur here were never conceived as an end onto themselves, instead they responded to a way of life that was centred on spirituality.

From an artistic point of view – writes Sandrina Bandera in the introduction – the extraordinary richness of the abbey sets it apart from the typical Cistercian tradition, which is normally more essential; it should be viewed more as an important urban monument, in which it is possible, thanks both to the works still to be found in the abbey and information regarding works that have since passed into the hands of the state, to construct a complete picture of the highest points of Milanese tradition.

Apart from its architecture, the bell tower is one of the few examples of Italian Gothic – comparable to the tower at Torrazzo di Cremona by Giovanni de Pecorari and the belfry of San Gottardo, the palace chapel of the Dukes of Milan – inside the tower are the remains of the 360°, fourteenth century decoration by Giotto’s finest Florentine pupil, Stefano, mentioned by Vasari, referring to the work being carried out at the time in Chiaravalle, for his ability to depict mellow changes of light and shading effects: “sweet painting and very amalgamated”. This cycle is being restored at present, what is now being revealed by the delicate cleansing process shows that once the work has been concluded it will constitute an extraordinary example of Italian Gothic art, revealing a highly original effect of skyward opening through the use of illusionary rose windows.

Dating from the Renaissance, when the abbey was already of extensive dimensions with two cloisters, is the rare relief graffito from the chapter hall in a technique derived from the newly born art of printing, prevalent in Milan at the end of the fifteenth century and of marked intellectual inspiration, the painting by Bramante now housed at the Brera Academy and the fresco by Bernardino Luini at the base of the staircase leading from the chapel to the dormitory dated 1512 showing how the paintings of Raphael had already begun to influence the Lombard’s work. In particular, the typology of this fresco was to become a recurring topos of fifteenth century spiritual observance; analogous examples exist such as the fresco in Morimondo dated 1515, still of unknown authorship, also originally located in the passage between a place of prayer and a place of everyday activity.

The choir and the numerous frescos by Flemish painters and by Barabino-Genovesino belong to the following period; they should be read not only as a historical record of the abbey’s history, since they portray its foundation (thus becoming a fundamental icon, a huge tableau on which a collective image was based), but also as an important source for the history of the seventeenth century: the figures dressed in “trailing capes and pendant swords” recalled by Manzoni became an appropriate inspiration and significant image for The Betrothed.

 

The book is available at the Skira bookstore in via Torino 61 in Milan and from 11 May 2005 in all Italian bookstores.