Abbey of Staffarda
The Abbey of Santa Maria di Staffarda stands in Revello, in the province of Cuneo, in the former marquisate of Saluzzo; it is one of the earliest Cistercian abbeys in Piedmont and has belonged to the Mauritian Order since 1750.[1][2]
The founding
It was founded on land donated by Manfredo, marquis of Saluzzo: in 1135 according to the FAI, or between 1122 and 1138 according to the Mauritian Order.[1][2] The Cistercians reclaimed the land and made it one of the main economic centres of the Saluzzo area.[1][2]
The building
The Romanesque-Gothic church has three aisles with semicircular apses, built of two-coloured brick and stone; the cloister dates from the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, and in the Gothic chapter house large triple-light windows allowed lay brothers to listen to the abbot.[2][3][1] Among the furnishings are the wooden altar by Agostino Nigra (1525) and the polyptych by Pascale Oddone of Savigliano.[2][3]
The battle and the Mauritian Order
On 18 August 1690, at the Battle of Staffarda, about 15,000 Austro-Piedmontese troops under Vittorio Amedeo II were defeated by about 12,000 French troops under Marshal Catinat, and the young Eugene of Savoy led the cavalry in the retreat; the French troops destroyed the archive and library.[3][2] In 1750 a bull of Benedict XIV assigned the abbey to the Mauritian Order, which still manages it today.[2] In June 2024 work on the roof was completed, as leaks had been threatening the frescoes; this was the first step of a project worth around 2.5 million euros.[4]