Serra
San Bruno
In
a green valley on the Ionian side of the Serre Mountain range, 2,600
feet above sea level, lies Serra San Bruno, a lovely mountain village
with medieval origins.
Founded at the end of the eleventh century around the Priory of St.
Bruno of Cologne, it belonged to the monastic complex until 1756.
Set
in a woodland park and surrounded by green pastures, Serra San Bruno
is noted for the lovely churches of St. Biagio and Our Lady of Sorrows,
gems of Baroque architecture, with fine stone doorways and wooden ornaments,
the work of skilled local woodcarvers.
However,
the significant cultural treasure of the village is The Priory, where
the confraternity of Bruno still lives. The Priory library and museum
are open to the public. In the center of the village are eighteenth-century
buildings, with fine doorways and splendidly decorated stone balconies.
Serra
San Bruno has always maintained a solid craft tradition, above all in
the field of woodworking, masonry and wrought ironwork. The cookery
and farm produce, especially the cheeses, mushrooms and sweets, are
famous.
Today,
Serra San Bruno is still a farming village, a trading center and a destination
for pilgrims.
Click
below to learn more of the history of Serra San Bruno's famous churches,
convent and monasteries.
The
Churches, Convents, Monasteries and Museums of Serra San Bruno
THE
PRIORY
Not
far from the center of Serra San Bruno, set in a magnificent wood, with
a spring spouting fresh water in front of its entrance, stands The Priory,
founded by Bruno of Cologne at the end of the eleventh century.
The
saint, master of the Grenoble Priory, established here the first of
his monastic complexes in Italy, giving it the name of St. Mary's in
the Woods; later the monastery of St. Stephen's was built.
Passing
to the Cistercians in 1193, the monastery was given back to the Carthusians
in 1513, who restored it towards the end of that century. The outer
walls were erected around the complex then, with seven towers and the
construction of the church and the cloisters begun, both in Renaissance
style.
Enlarged
during successive centuries, the Priory was damaged by the 1783 earthquake.
However, substantial remains of the old Priory have survived: beyond
the entrance hall there are the ruins of the monumental granite facade
of the Renaissance church, perhaps the work of Palladio.
Of
the cloister dating back to the seventeenth century, almost all the
lower part remains and, in the middle, a Baroque fountain of the same
date. Stretches of the fifteenth-century wall have also survived and
the old monk's cemetery. A few hundred meters away, in a charming beech
and pine grove, are the church of St. Mary's in the Woods and the lovely
small St. Bruno's Lake, called "of the miracles," at the center
of which is a statue of the kneeling saint.
THE
NEW PRIORY
The New Priory of Serra San Bruno was rebuilt towards the end of the
nineteenth century, in a style reminiscent of French Gothic. On the
side looking onto the road, there is St. Bruno's chapel, with a majestic
stone facade and doorway adorned with small Corinthian columns. The
church contains a precious neo-Gothic apse, surmounted by a carved golden
dome, displaying the full-figure marble statues of St. Bruno and his
favorite disciple the Blessed Landuin, sculpted in full-relief, the
work of the nineteenth-century sculptor Giovanni Scrivo.
The
church also houses an admirably carved wooden choir and, in the canopy
that covers the altar, an embossed silver reliquary-bust, from about
1520, perhaps by Laurana or by Leoni. By obtaining permission in advance
it is possible to visit some special rooms in the Priory, that contain
woodwork and paintings from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
of notable artistic value: a fine oil on canvas depicting St. Francis
of Paola, the work of the seventeenth-century Italo-Hispanic artist,
attributed to Luca Giordano or to the Guercino workshop, and a St. Jerome,
attributed to José Ribera, called the "Spagnoletto",
or to one of the Fracanzanos.
Finally,
there is a Nativity Scene, by an unknown Flemish artist, a St. Bruno
in Glory, by a seventeenth-century Neapolitan artist, and an interesting
eighteenth-century group.
Besides
St. Bruno's chapel and the church, there are a large cloister, two minor
chapels, the monastic cells and a small cemetery.
Finally,
the imposing library should not be neglected, containing many volumes,
including 2,000 books from other Italian and foreign priories, and the
museum. Entrance to the Priory is forbidden to women; men may visit
it every Wednesday and Saturday, from 16.15 to 19.00.
CHURCH
OF SAINT MARY
The Church of St. Mary's in the Woods (Santa Maria del Bosco) of Serra,
otherwise known as St. Mary's of the Hermitage, stands in the charming
Ancinale Valley, not far from the ancient priory.
The building was founded in the same period as the monastery but was
damaged by the 1783 earthquake. Rebuilt with many of the original stone
elements, it has a lovely flight of steps.
Next
to the church entrance is a Baroque stone obelisk, culminating in a
cross. The stone doorway is surmounted by a lovely single-light window
and a niche contains a bronze statue of St. Bruno.
Next
to the church is a hermit's cave (a reproduction of the small cave to
which St. Bruno retired to pray), a medieval "fountain of miracles"
made of granite (a small pediment with pointed arch and Latin cross
cornice) and the small "lake of miracles," in whose numbing
waters the saint immersed himself for penitence.
According
to another tradition, the bones of the Priory's founder were buried
here and when they were moved, a spring that feeds the small mirror-like
lake spouted forth. Its waters are said to be miraculous for the suffering
and for the possessed. In the small lake there is a statue of St. Bruno
in prayer and a small Baroque column, dated 1694.
THE
CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF SORROWS
The Church of Our Lady of Sorrows (dell'Addolorata), built at
Serra San Bruno in 1721, was created by local masons, on a plan by B.
Scaramozzino and V. Salerno. The building, remarkable for its light
and slender lines, elegantly blends classical elements with eighteenth-century
style, in an admirable example of Baroque architecture.
A
majestic stone doorway opens in the semi-elliptical granite facade and
frames a bronze door with decorated panels, showing episodes from the
life of the Virgin Mary.
The
interior, with a single nave and Ionic columns, is on a Latin cross
plan with lovely domes, the vaults are embellished with neoclassical
stucco-work, by D.Barillari.
The
floor, in part "ad opus spicatum," belonged to the church
of the old Priory. The main altar, in polychrome marbles, is a Baroque
masterpiece, typified by a richly inlaid triple plinth, a precious Holy
Sacrament case, in malachite and lapis lazuli and by an imposing ciborium,
from the old Priory.
On
each side of the altar are two exquisitely made small arches, decorated
with ovules and dentils, a seventeenth-century work. The semicircular
apse, decorated with stucco-work and frescoes, and, on the walls four
beautiful seventeenth-century medallions, portraying busts of saints
and friars, also from the old Priory, should be mentioned.
Finally,
above the altar in the right transept there is an oil painting depicting
the Death of St. Ann, attributed to José Ribera, called the "Spagnoletto"
and, over the altar of the left transept, an Apparition of the Immaculate
Conception to St. Bruno, a canvas by the Campania artist De Matteis,
from the beginning of the eighteenth-century.
THE
CHURCH OF ST. BIAGIO
The Church of St. Biagio, built at Serra San Bruno in 1795, to the plans
of local artist B. Scaramozzino, has a harmonious Baroque-style stone
facade, marked by its slender style and adorned by statues of angels
and saints, the work of skilled local masons at the end of the eighteenth
century.
The
building, basilica-style, has three naves supported by columns and a
finely decorated triumphal arch. The main altar, in neoclassical style,
is surmounted by a precious Baroque ciborium, the work of the Scrivo
brothers and D. Drago.
There are four great full-figure marble statues in full-relief in the
central nave, portraying St. Stephen, St. Bruno, St. John the Baptist
and the Madonna. The sculptures, placed on a marble plinth with fine
engraved bas-reliefs of historical scenes, come from the old Priory
and are the work of the German D. Müller (the St. John and St.
Stephen are of uncertain attribution, perhaps the work of a Sicilian
workshop from the beginning of the seventeenth century).
The
church also contains an eighteenth-century full-relief wooden statue
of St. Nicholas of Bari and a 19th c. statue of St. Joseph, also in
wood, the work of D. Barillari.
Various
paintings should be mentioned, among which two fine oils on canvas:
one of the Holy Trinity, the work of a sixteenth-century Neapolitan
workshop, and a Martyrdom of St. Stephen, from the old Priory, a late-Renaissance
Flemish-inspired work, attributed by some scholars to Ribera.
In
addition, the wooden ornaments should not be overlooked, in particular
the admirably carved eighteenth-century pulpit by the local artist Scaramozzino.
Finally,
an exquisitely made gold and silver alter, the work of the Neapolitan
A. Russo, should be pointed out, and a golden chalice embellished with
precious stones, the work of a southern workshop.
THE
CHURCH OF THE ANNUNCIATION
The Church of the Annunciation at Serra San Bruno, also known as St.
John's or Our Lady of the Assumption, is a building founded in the Middle
Ages, perhaps thirteenth-century.
Damaged
over the centuries and rebuilt in neoclassical style at the beginning
of the nineteenth century, it has an elegant granite facade, Baroque-style,
a stone doorway decorated with elegant small columns.
The
interior, with a single nave and on a basilica-type plan, contains a
wooden main altar, flanked by small arches whose precious moldings are
decorated with figures in relief, the work of local artist Scaramozzino.
On
the platform behind the altar there is a sumptuous wooden pediment,
also by Scaramozzino, with a 16th c. canvas and a wooden statue portraying
Our Lady of the Assumption, by a local workshop and from the nineteenth
century.
The
walls are decorated with marble medallions, with high-reliefs of St.
Biagio and St. Bruno, while the windows are of stained glass with splayed
jambs. Finally, there are two full-relief, full-figure wooden statues,
the work of a 19th. century local artist
For more information about the Carthusian order of Serra San Bruno,
click here.
