In the year 1319 «from the Nativity of the incarnate Word, the aforementioned men, beloved of God, went to this place, with their tools and their books, to offer God a devoted service». Thus the monk Antonio da Barga, in his Chronicle of 1450, describes the birth of Monte Oliveto Maggiore. Giovanni Tolomei (later Saint Bernard), together with Patrizio Patrizi and Ambrogio Piccolomini, retired to the desert of Acona to live according to the Rule of Saint Benedict. With the charta fundationis of 1319, the place became an abbey, giving rise to a new monastic family, approved in 1344. Today visitors can tour the church with its wooden choir, the refectory, the cloister, the library, the pharmacy, the chapter house, the wine cellar, and the herbalist's shop. The community has lived here for over seven hundred years: about thirty monks still continue a life of prayer and work today, renewing the Benedictine tradition daily.
Opening hours
The abbey is open every day of the year at the following times:
STANDARD TIME:
morning 09.30 – 12.40 (last entry 12.20)
afternoon 14.30 – 17.00 (last entry 16.40)
DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME:
morning 09.30 – 12.40 (last entry 12.20)
afternoon 14.30 – 18.00 (last entry 17.40)
Mass times:
– WEEKDAYS
06.45 (except Saturday)
07.30 Lauds and Conventual Mass (GREGORIAN CHANT)
– SUNDAYS AND HOLY DAYS
17.30 (Saturday)
11.00 Conventual Mass (GREGORIAN CHANT)
17.30 (Sunday)
Liturgy of the Hours times:
– WEEKDAYS
06.00 Office of Readings
07.30 Lauds and Conventual Mass (GREGORIAN CHANT)
12.30 Sext and Holy Rosary
18.30 Vespers (GREGORIAN CHANT)
20.45 Compline (GREGORIAN CHANT; in summer: 21.00)
– SUNDAYS AND HOLY DAYS
06.50 Office of Readings
08.15 Lauds
09.15 Terce
11.00 Conventual Mass (GREGORIAN CHANT)
18.30 Vespers (GREGORIAN CHANT)
20.45 Compline (GREGORIAN CHANT; in summer: 21.00)
Tickets
Visit the website: https://www.operadarte.net/scopri-labbazia-di-monte-oliveto-maggiore/