Superb location in the heart of the Belice Valley, the Abbey of Santa Maria del Bosco was built by a group of Benedictine monks in the thirteenth century. The structure has 12 rooms where you can stay in close contact with history and culture. The complex also offers itself as an exclusive setting to celebrate your wedding, being able to host the ceremony on site.
Abbazia Santa Maria del Bosco History
The earliest sources date the construction of the Abbey of Santa Maria del Bosco in the thirteenth century, when it was founded by a group of hermits passed later to the Benedictine rule. The imposing complex was built around the two large cloisters which are its fulcrum while at the end of the eighteenth century other works gave a neoclassical appearance apart from the structures. Positioned inside a suggestive wood with a wide panoramic view on western Sicily, the structure is made up of a rectangular building crossed by a wing and divided inside by two cloisters: the first has a square shape and 36 columns with capitals Doric interspersed with arches and niches and a seventeenth century fountain in the center; the second cloister is instead rectangular and has round arches with simple Doric capitals columns. Also in this case there is a fountain in the center, dating back to 1713.
The abbey is spread over four levels: two floors used as service rooms are basements, the cloisters on the ground floor together with the novitiate and finally the rooms of the friars on the first floor, which can be reached via two elegant steatite stairways.
Between the monastery and the great bell tower with a pyramid cusp is the church, built between 1643 and 1757, with a Latin cross plan. From the ancient monks' cells have been created the suites dedicated to guests: each room has a private bathroom, TV and Wi-Fi and are furnished with fine antique furniture. The solemnity and peace of the past is still perceptible today and it is not difficult to imagine the monks walking in silence along the corridor.
Available for receptions, banquets and special events, the Abbey offers its wide spaces to the most diverse needs, allowing you to relive the charm of the Middle Ages. Surrounded by a magnificent forest of oak trees and surrounded by the attentions of an attentive staff, the abbey can accommodate in addition to the reception, even the wedding ceremony on site. The catering of the structure will take care of the banquet, offering guests the flavors of the regional and Mediterranean tradition, selecting the best raw materials and presenting the dishes with imagination.