The History of Santa Maria di Valmarina

Valmarina is the valley adjoining the Bastia hill and facing the Ramera area in the municipality of Bergamo, characterized by a picturesque landscape of terraced meadows, vineyards, and cultivated fields. The monastic complex, located near the road connecting Val Brembana with Bergamo, far from the city, was built in an area that at the time was certainly wooded, at the foot of the hill called Bastia. The settlement was founded by a small group of Benedictine nuns on a territory of about 660 square meters, donated as a testamentary gift by the Bishop of Bergamo, Gerardo, which also facilitated the founding of four female Benedictine convents. The nuns were devoted to prayer and work, and its foundation is part of the history of female monasticism, which was no less important than male monasticism.

After the birth of the free commune of Bergamo in 1098, Vallombrosan monks settled in the territory in 1117, receiving various lands in the Astino valley from the commune. Shortly thereafter, the exact date unknown due to lost documents, it is believed that around 1146 a small group of women with a vocation for a life of prayer and work received land in Valmarina near a small church dedicated to Mary from the Bishop of Bergamo.

Enclosure, for female monasteries following the Rule of Saint Benedict, was a choice recommended by the Bishop and willingly accepted, as it promoted reflection and prayer. Exceptions were made for the abbess, elected by her sisters, when she needed to leave the monastery to manage its affairs.

The construction of the monastery is therefore placed between 1146 and 1153. It is cited in the Rotolum Episcopatus Pergomi noting a census paid to the Bergamo church for a plot located in "valle que dicitur Vallis Marine" in 1146, though no monastic buildings are specified. The valley was also characterized by a watercourse, an important factor for founding the monastery at the time.

The complex consisted of multiple buildings constructed at different times: the church dedicated to Saint Benedict, the chapter hall, the cells, and the refectory. Built as an irregular fortified courtyard with the northern part deeper than the east-west section, it supported the nuns through the wealth of the land they cultivated using terracing. These terraces, created by removing rocks and stones, are said to have given the name Valmarina—from marra, meaning rocks—later transformed into mare/marina.

The locality name already appeared in 1029 in the vicinia of Santa Grata inter Vites of Borgo Canale. Its original layout is described in a 1367 document and in some 16th-century cadastral records preserved in the Milan State Archive in the Libro delle descriptioni dele proprietà ragion dele Reverendi monagi de Santo Benedeto posto nela vicinanza de Sancto Steffno.

By 1160, the community had obtained the abbey title. Castrum Monasterii is how it is defined in ancient documents, and the masonry clearly shows it was a fortified building with a tower, now demolished, though the base remains visible. Inside the tower was the abbess's apartment, while the other nuns shared a large dormitory with narrow windows serving as lamp holders to remain lit all night, signaling the monastery's presence to pilgrims or merchants in need of shelter.

There was a close relationship between female monasteries in the territory, supported by wealthy Bergamasque families whose testamentary donations, documented between 1160 and 1183, allow identification of some nuns. Notable donations included those of dominus Girardo Muoizoni, who gave his weapons to the Templars and household goods to domina Isabella Vallis Marine, likely one of the first nuns present. Other documented donations came from Morario, son of Alessandro Ficieni, and Maifredo de Surlasco in 1175. The Suardi family remained closely tied to the monastery, making gifts and donations through the 14th century.

The canon of the Suardi family, collaborator with Bishop Guala, maintained numerous relations with the monastery, showing how positively these institutions were regarded by the Bergamo church. By the 13th century, benefits to the female Benedictine community of Valmarina decreased as new male monastic communities received more favor from successive bishops, and the rise of Guelph and Ghibelline factions, which divided Bergamo's population, did not favor extra-mural female monasteries.

In 1274, the community joined the Congregation of Misericordia Maggiore and was the monastery with the highest number of nuns, including 10 nuns and 3 converses. Names preserved include Abbess Rogeria de Tercio, from a family that greatly supported the order, and domina Benedicta de Capitaneo de Zene, who became abbess but in 1299 was involved in a legal case for insolvency, defended by the notary Girardo Valoti. On January 10, 1299, the episcopal vicar excommunicated the abbess for two months but later reinstated her, indicating the monastery's financial difficulties.

Closure

At the beginning of the 15th century, for physical and moral safety reasons and due to extreme poverty, the Benedictine community abandoned Valmarina to join a monastery within the city walls, becoming part of the Santa Maria Novella convent, later the Monastery of San Benedetto, still active today on Via Sant'Alessandro in Bergamo. Following the apostolic visit of 1575 by Archbishop Carlo Borromeo, nuns from San Fermo were also incorporated.

The abandoned Valmarina buildings were adapted for rural activities according to new needs. The dramatic decision was prompted by the profanation of the monastery on October 2, 1393, when Guelph forces from Sorisole and Ponteranica attacked, killing guard dogs and burning the gate. Ghibellines intervened in defense, but the event led to the monastery's abandonment. At the time, Abbess Pomina de Patuzis, who had preserved the monastery during the plague, had to surrender to these late 14th-century events.

A 1403 deed signed by the abbess and nun Benedetta di Mozzo, witnessed by Pomina's brother Certoldo, records a land exchange in the San Lorenzo area with a plot in Sant'Alessandro, marking the first act leading to Valmarina's closure and relocation in 1430.

In the Monastery of San Benedetto archives, a 1740 notary record describes the Valmarina property as:

"Una pezza di terra Ronchina, Avvitata, Pratina, Casata, Boschina, Aratoria, Ortina et Arborina con un oratorio antico detta Valmarina situata nella Parrocchia di Castagneta"

During the Cisalpine Republic, with the 1796 secularization of ecclesiastical "dead-hand" property, the complex was sold to the Moroni counts, who already had a nearby residence. They later sold it in 1997 to the Parco dei Colli, which made it their administrative headquarters and activity center.

According to Don Paolo Lunardon, six monasteries formed the Benedictine network of Bergamo: Valmarina, Santa Margherita di Brembate Inferiore, Santa Maria Novella, San Giuliano di Bonate Sotto, San Giorgio di Spino, and San Fermo in the 16th century.

Archives

In 1364, a nun, Jacopa or Pomma de Gredeniano from Longuelo, left the monastery with the library, preserving it for the benefit of the church and monastery. That same year, Milan's archive listed the library again, though the oldest parchments were lost in the 14th century. Napoleon's suppression caused further losses, leaving no written evidence for the 12th and 13th centuries. An inventory from 1451 in the Bergamo Benedictine archive records Valmarina's furnishings and assets. The Liber ingressionis and the Obituario, written in the early 16th century, include data on the first half of the 15th century, listing nuns, entry dates, roles, and dates of death. Three 14th-century parchments concern Valmarina abbey. The 1742 property ledger of the Monastery of San Benedetto lists all properties, including the Valmarina monastic estate, by then used for rural purposes.

Description

The abandonment of the monastery and its conversion to new activities, along with the modification and addition of 18th-century buildings, make it difficult to trace the original structure, although Romanesque elements are partially visible. The monastery was a fortified structure, one of the few in Lombardy. It consisted of the chapter hall, the cells, and the church dedicated to Saint Benedict, of which only limited traces remain in the exterior layout of the complex. In the area that was used as the dormitory, a lamp holder near the windows remains, used to keep lights burning all night so that the convent would always be visible; for this reason, a nun was assigned each night to ensure the lanterns remained lit. There was also a walled wine press and storage rooms (caneva).

There were probably a second church dedicated to Saint Ambrose and possibly a third, along with a bell tower with two floors, which also served as a watchtower to alert neighboring monasteries built in the 12th century. The nuns could not attend services in person but only through a grille so that they would never be seen by the faithful. During a pastoral visit, a cardinal reportedly noted that the grille openings were too wide, making the nuns visible to young men attending the services.

The chapter hall was located on the ground floor and was the place for the nuns' daily reading of the Benedictine rule. Its current form as a closed courtyard, typical of plains regions and acquired after transformations into a rustic farmyard, is exceptional in the context of hillside farm complexes such as Valmarina, where building blocks are generally juxtaposed, arranged in an L-shape, or opposing one another—results of successive expansions from the late Middle Ages, following the slope of the hill. However, a second church, a tower, and the cellar are missing. The portico attached to the original nucleus corresponds precisely to rural complexes found across the territory, from the slopes of Maresana to Sorisole.

Today, the interior space is used for exhibitions and preserves the two horse sculptures by Elia Ajolfi, placed for the 40th anniversary of the park's opening.

Church of Saint Benedict

The complex included the chapter hall, the cells, and the church dedicated to Saint Benedict, with few traces remaining externally. The ancient church, dedicated to Saint Benedict of Nursia, was traditionally oriented with the apse to the east and dates back to 1136. The walls are made of horizontally laid stone, typical of the time. On the east side, two semicircular single-light windows remain, separated by a pilaster, along with two upper oculi framed in stone, illuminating the small presbytery of the old church. The presbytery's roof was a cross vault, while the nave probably had wooden trusses. On the north exterior wall, the arch delimiting the northern nave wall is still visible.

"Questa pezza de tera montiva boschiva sortiva et parte aradora vidata et parte prativa et cum el stallo et una giesia dita in Valmarina, una turi solerata et cum duobus solariis et cum una caminata et cum quadam domo seu ecclesia appellatur ecclesia sancti Ambroxi cum uno torcularii in ea et cum una coquina sita prope scalam et cum una domo solerata que appellatur caneva que amnia predicta aedeficia existentia in dicta pecia terre sita sunt in dicto monasterio et inter muros dicti monasterii et cum una hera et curte et una porticus magna site in dicta pecia terre extra murus dicti monasterii et radenter dictum manasterium"