The abbey of San Magno lies north-west of the town of Fondi, on the first slopes of Monte Arcano. According to the account of St Gregory the Great, the monastery was built in 522 at the wish of St Honoratus, in honour of the martyrdom of St Magnus. The first document is of 979, when the consuls and dukes of Gaeta and Fondi made donations to the community. Until 1072 the monastery was independent; then the consul Gerardo of Fondi gave it to the abbey of Montecassino, and its title does in fact appear on the fifth panel of the bronze door of the mother abbey. In 1492 Pope Alexander VI passed it to the Benedictines of Monte Oliveto. At the end of the fifteenth century it was rebuilt by Prospero Colonna. At the end of the eighteenth century the French destroyed part of it and stripped the rooms; in 1807 it was suppressed, and later it even served as a sheepfold.
What to see
Of the complex there have been found the medieval church, a Latin cross with a crypt, which keeps frescoes, and the Renaissance church, reopened for worship and dedicated to St Benedict. Then there are some structures that perhaps belong to the last phases of the monastery's life: the mill, the guest house and some vats for processing oil.
Recent archaeological investigations have identified, beneath the upper church built at Prospero Colonna's wish, an earlier church of which all trace had been lost: the abbey church may go back to the first half of the ninth century. The layout of the upper church was conditioned by a Roman substructure lying under the nave, so much so that the older construction is incorporated in the perimeter walls.
Visiting
Today the monastery is entrusted to the archdiocese of Gaeta, and the restoration of the complex is under way. Times and arrangements for visits should be checked on the monastery's official website.
Our editors' tip
The body of St Magnus lay in the crypt until 847, when Plato of Veroli, captain of Campania, sacked the place and took it to the church of Sant'Andrea in Veroli. Later, with the Saracen invasion of Veroli, the body was moved to Anagni.
