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A new life after a thousand years

Have you ever slept in a near one thousand year old historic building? Our hotel offers you the unique experience of staying in a real Cistercian abbey in the Emilia-Romagna countryside. In the next few lines we will tell you something of its ancient history.

According to the most reliable documents, the Cistercian abbey of Fontevivo was founded on the 5th of May, 1142 by twelve monks led by Abbot Viviano, from the Piacenza monastery of Clairvaux of the Dove. The new facility was built on marshland that was reclaimed and made productive by the work of the monks. The Cistercians remained in Fontevivo until 1546, when the Abbey passed to the Benedictines, who stayed there until 1892.

To the north of the cloister is the Church of San Bernardo, in Romanesque style, with three naves, made of bricks in the characteristic pink colour. Inside, you can admire the Madonna and Child, also known as the Madonna of the rose, the flower that the Virgin holds in her hand. It is a stone statue from the twelfth century, attributed to the sculptor Benedetto Antelami.
Next to the church is the convent, once a refuge for the monks and the centre of their daily activities. In the eighteenth century, the Dukes of Parma restructured and enlarged the building and turned it into a boarding school to house the children of the largest families in Europe, who came to Fontevivo for their summer holiday.
In 1987, the City of Fontevivo acquired the now former convent, with the administration promoting its recovery, which concluded with the development of a hotel for tourists, a restaurant and spaces for events and ceremonies.
The new complex also houses the Museo delle Fisarmoniche (Museum of Accordions), with exemplary nineteenth and twentieth century specimens from around the world.