Opening hours and admissions

Mon. 9,00 - 12.30, from Tues. to fri. 9,00 - 12,30 and 14,30 - 18,30; Sat. and Sun. 9,00 - 12,30 and 15,00 - 19,00 (from March 1st to Nov. 15th); from Nov. 16th to febr. 28th  on request

Admission charges: full price € 7,00

concessions € 6,00 for groups of minimum 12 people,  students up to 18's and over 60's

Free of charge: teachers and group responsible

 

Benedectine Abbey of San Benedetto Po (former San Benedetto in Polirone)

 

“Motecassino of Northern Italy” or “The Lombard Cluny” are two ways to describe the magnificent set of buildings of Polirone in San Benedetto Po, one of the most important testimonies to the rule of St. Benedict in Northern Italy. The monastery was founded by Tedaldo Canossa, Mathilde’s grandfather in the year 1007 and Lutero visited it for its reformist ideas in 1510. Inside the monastery you can visit the Basilica, re-built between 1540 and 1544 on the pre-existing structure by Giulio Romano, the architect who built Palazzo TE. In the Basilica one can admire 32 statues by Antonio Begarelli, 11^th century mosaics belonging to the former church, an imposing high altar and the wooden choir of 1550. Outside the Basilica it is possible to see the three 15^th century cloisters, lots of buildings which were part of the monastery and the Refectory which houses the abbey museum with a fresco by Correggio.

The Abbey Museum and Municipal Museum of the Po Valley Folk Culture - San Benedetto Po  

The Abbey Museum

Housed in a late 15th-century monastery refectory, this museum keeps a fresco by Correggio (1514), various objects belonging to the monastery, and it also displays pottery found during the excavations in the cloisters, 15th to 16th-century marble works, a group of 17th to 18th-century statues and other finds from the Roman times to late Renaissance. 

 

Municipal Museum of the Po Valley Folk Culture

The Abbey now houses various section of the Musei Civici Polironiani, among which we recommend a rich display of farm tools and a remarkable collection of period puppets.

The museum houses graphic works (drawings and sketches) and paintings by Antonio Giorgi, as well as a puppet collection, some decorated wooden waggons and statues. A series of objects relating to the Po Valley traditional trades is also on display, along with a series of local stuffed animals, terracottas and folk prints. There are also the mock-ups of rural interiors. 

 

Guide Turistiche

Alliet'ARTI

allietarti@aliceposta.it

Tel: 328 4532069

Fax: 0386 51324