The Origins of the Monastery:
The Queen’s Monastery
The Monastery of Santa Maria in Valle - which includes the Church of San Giovanni and the renowned Lombard temple known as Tempietto Longobardo - is one of the most important places for the Lombard period in Cividale. Here, we find some of the most significant examples of Lombard art and architecture from the 7th–8th centuries.
The complex is also essential for understanding how the town developed over time, especially in the area known as “Valle” (i.e. “valley”), located to the south‑east of Cividale. As the name suggests, this area is a natural dip in the landscape that slopes down from the Cathedral and the old Patriarch’s Palace - the National Archaeological Museum of today - towards the steep banks of the Natisone River.
In early medieval times, this was the site of the Lombard Gastaldate, the seat of royal authority and residence of the king’s representative, the Gastald.
Within this area stood two very important buildings: the Church of San Giovanni, one of the oldest places of worship in the town (7th century), and the Tempietto Longobardo, a masterpiece of Lombard art likely built for the royal court.
The origins of the monastery are connected to land that was originally royal property. The monastery was first mentioned in a document dated 830, in which the Carolingian emperors Lothair and Louis granted the Patriarch of Aquileia authority over the women’s Monastery of Santa Maria, except for the Church of San Giovanni, which continued to belong to the Gastaldate.
We can therefore say that the monastery began as a royal foundation.
For the first decades, it occupied only part of the Gastaldate and probably used the Tempietto Longobardo as its place of worship, starting originally as the royal palace chapel and later becoming the Oratory of Santa Maria in Valle.
Between the 9th and 10th centuries, the monastery finally gained control over the entire western part of the Gastaldate, including the Church of San Giovanni. This expansion may be linked to the arrival of the nuns from the monastery of a nearby village called Salt, which had been founded by three Lombard nobles with their mother Piltrude, who became its first abbess. Piltrude was a person whom tradition would later closely associate with Cividale: evidence of this link can be seen in the fact that, until 1968, the Tempietto Longobardo housed a medieval tomb known as the “Tomb of Piltrude”.
From the Carolingian period onward, the Monastery of Santa Maria in Valle consistently remained among the properties granted by the emperors to the Patriarch of Aquileia, as confirmed by a charter issued by Emperor Otto III in 986. During the Middle Ages, it became an important women’s monastery mainly intended for ladies from noble families, gaining power and prestige thanks to donations, privileges, and revenues.
This prosperity also encouraged the architectural growth of the monastery complex, which reached its present form through major expansion works carried out between the 16th and 18th centuries.
In the following centuries, after a long phase of flourishing activity, the monastery shared the fate of many other religious institutions: it was suppressed during Napoleon’s time and became state property.
In 1812, it was purchased by the Municipality of Cividale. After some renovation works, it was used as a girls’ school run by Benedictine nuns. In 1843, a community of Ursuline sisters was also brought in to support the small number of Benedictine nuns still living there. In 1925, a decree by the Austrian Emperor allowed the monastery to reopen, on the condition that the nuns took responsibility for teaching local girls.
In 2000, the entire complex became the permanent property of the Municipality of Cividale del Friuli.
In recent years, the monastery has undergone major restoration and enhancement works, aimed at improving access for visitors as a UNESCO site and giving back to visitors, local and international alike, one of the most important places in Cividale’s history.
