Gruppo SANT'ANGELO

The Goleto Abbey is a religious complex located in the heart of Irpinia. It was founded by San Guglielmo da Vercelli in the XII century. Masterpiece of Romanesque art, it is a place of intense and spiritual life that has survived earthquakes, snow, wind and the hand of man, to give us, even today, the testimony of a distant time full of mistery.

Most of the complex and the walls are made of local stone. Most of the blocks used for the construction of the tower of Febronia , which among other things has numerous bas-reliefs, come from a Roman mausoleum dedicated to Paccio Marcello.

Founded by San Guglielmo da Vercelli.

The foundation dates back to 1135

Property of the Italian Catholic Church

Largely restored in the last few years. The Chiesa Grande has no coverage.

The Goleto Abbey rises from the top of a hill, in the valley of Ofanto and was built in 1133 by San Guglielmo da Vercelli, a hermit monk who also inspired the famous Sanctuary of the Madonna of Montevergine. By the will of the founder, the vast primitive building was intended to host a mixed community of nuns and monks, where the supreme authority was represented by the Abbesses, ,while the monks were entrusted with the liturgical service and care of the administrative part. Under the guidance of famous abbesses – Febronia, Marina I and II, Agnes and Scolastica, the community grew and became famous for the holiness of the nuns and the monastery itself enriched with land and works of art. Some of the most significant monuments of the complex are owed to their monastic work. The Febronia tower, a true masterpiece of Romanesque art built with numerous stone blocks from a Roman mausoleum dedicated to Marco Paccio Marcello, takes its name from the Abbess who ordered its construction in 1152 for the defense of the monastery. After two centuries of Splendor, starting in 1348, the year of the black plague, a slow and inexorable decadence began that determined, on January 24, 1506, by the Pope Julius II, the suppression of the monastic community which, in fact, occurred with the death of the last abbess in 1515. With the end of the Goletan female community, the monastery was merged with that of Montevergine, and it kept existing thanks to the presence of some monks. Thus began a slow recovery that culminated later in the mid-eighteenth century, with the complete restoration of the monastery and the construction of a large church, work of Domenico Antonio Vaccaro. In 1807 the sovereign of Naples, Giuseppe Bonaparte, finally suppressed the Abbey. The body of San Guglielmo was transferred to Montevergine and the Goleto furnishings were divided between neighboring countries. Since then the Abbey fell into decay but fortunately the complex has survived all this and has now been restored to its former glory thanks to the contribution of the Ministry of Culture heritage and the Superintendence of Arts in Avellino and Salerno. giving it new life and the splendor that today everyone can admire.