Nonantola

Nonantola lies in the Po Valley east of Modena. Its history is closely bound to the Benedictine abbey of Saint Sylvester, founded in 752 by Anselm, the Lombard duke of Friuli. Richly endowed by King Aistulf, the monastery became an important religious centre; Pope Hadrian III was buried there, and in 883 the monastery hosted a meeting between Pope Marinus I and Emperor Charles the Fat.

Modena and Bologna disputed Nonantola before it came under Este suzerainty in 1412, retaining its own communal institutions. The abbey had declined by then and passed to commendatory abbots in 1419. Cistercians took possession in 1514, but its decline continued until Pope Clement XIII suppressed it in 1768. During the Napoleonic wars the abbey lost its remaining territories; Pope Pius VII restored the monastery in 1821.