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Cinque Terre and Tuscany cooking Tour (3
nights)
Tuscany Cooking & Touring Tour
(5 nights)
Tuscany Cooking break (3 nights)
Tuscany Truffles Autumn Cooking & Touring
long week-end (2 nights)
Cinque Terre
The Cinque Terre
5 Terre the villages
5 Terre Marine Park
Trekking 5 Terre
Trek Riviera Levante
La Spezia - Deiva
The Romans
Levanto
Gastronomy 5 Terre
Cinque Terre wine
The Poet's Gulf
Poets' Gulf
La Spezia
La Spezia - the Gulf
La Val di Magra
La Val di Vara
La Via Francigena
Lerici
Lerici itineraries
Luni archeological site
Portovenere
Gastron. Golfo Poeti
Riviera di Levante
Camogli
Levanto
Portofino
San Fruttuoso
Santa Margherita
Sestri Levante
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San Fruttuoso Abbey
Between Camogli and Portofino, a deep inlet along the indented
coastline of the Promontory of Portofino is home to the famous
abbey of San Fruttuoso di Capodimonte in the intact fishing
village of the same name.
After its initial monastic use,
the complex at San Fruttuoso di Capodimonte was a humble home for
fishermen, often a den of pirates and later the property for
centuries of the Doria Princes: an absolutely unique place where
the work of men integrates perfectly with Nature.
The monastic complex of the X-XI century with the cloisters, the
Chapter House and the church can all be visited; as well as the Doria tombs and the XIII-century Gothic section by the sea.
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The San Fruttuoso Abbey can be reached only by foot on an arduous mountain trail, or by
boat.
There is a regular boat service from Camogli and Portofino.
Most of the current San Fruttuoso abbey dates back to the X-XI centuries, while the body facing the
sea, with its fine "loggiato" with two orders of mullioned windows, was
built in the XIII century thanks to the donations of the Doria family.
The
belfry is one of the most ancient architectural elements of the abbey and of
Liguria.
The slightly oval spherical dome was surmounted in the X century in
accordance with the Byzantine style by an octagonal tower with open-face
strips in keeping with the Ottonian tradition.
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The San Fruttuoso upper cloister
The San Fruttuoso upper cloister, built in the XII century, was almost entirely rebuilt in the 1500s
by admiral Andrea Doria, adding a cross vault to the upper level using
capitals and columns of various origin.
The capital in the foreground, for
example, is Roman (end II century A.D.), others are Romanesque.
The
attractive Romanesque "loggia" at the rear (X century) was closed during
restoration work in 1933 and has now been re-opened and looks inside the
Museum.
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The San Fruttuoso Doria Tombs
The San Fruttuoso lower level of the cloister gives access to the deep vaulted chamber granted to
the Doria by the monks as a burial place.
The tombs in white marble and grey
stone alternate in a typical two-color scheme arranged in rows on three
sides of the chamber; they comprise single or paired masonry arches, most of
which with epigraphs, surmounted by small pointed arches supported by small
marble columns, with a saddleback roof.
Here rest seven members of the Doria
family, while the identity is not known of personages buried in the two
other tombs and a Roman sarcophagus.
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The San Fruttuoso Doria tower
Along the road that links the San Fruttuoso abbey and the fishing village, dating to the XVI
century, there is a steep staircase leading to the tower of Andrea Doria,
built in 1562 by the heirs of the admiral, Giovanni Andrea and Pagano, to
defend the hamlet and its providential source of fresh-water from Barbar
pirate raids.
The two facades of the tower overlooking the sea have the
shield of the Doria Family, the imperial eagle, while other decorations can
be seen on the cornices and the trusses.
Concerts in San Fruttuoso Abbey
At various dates in July and August, a season of concerts,
that is much appreciated by public and critics alike, is held in the cloisters
of the San Fruttuoso Abbey.
MORE INFO ON SAN FRUTTUOSO...>>> |
Courtesy in part of
FAI Fondo Ambiente Italiano
(c) 1997-2008 E. Massetti
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