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Torba Abbey, otherwise Torba Monastery ((イタリア語:monastero di Torba, abbadia di Torba)) is a former Benedictine nunnery in Torba, a frazione of Gornate Olona, Lombardy, Italy, in the Castelseprio Archaeological Park. This in turn forms part of the serial site "Longobards in Italy, Places of Power (568–774 A.D.)", comprising seven sites of especial importance for Lombard arts in architecture, pictures and sculpture, entered on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites in June 2011.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=World Heritage Committee inscribes five new sites in Colombia, Sudan, Jordan, Italy and Germany )〕 == History == The first nucleus of the Castelseprio complex, of which Torba is part, originated under the Romans in the fifth century A.D. as part of one of the military outposts built to defend against barbarian incursions along the south-western face of the Alps. The area around the river Olona where Torba was founded, the Seprio (originally called ''Sibrium''), was a place of some strategic importance in the Roman period, partly because of its water supply, partly because of its position on an important axis of communication across the Alps. A ''castrum'' or fortress was built here, the origin of the present Castelseprio. One of its outliers was a look-out station and tower, at what is now Torba.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Castelseprio-Torba: The Castrum )〕 The ''castrum '' was used over the next few centuries by the Goths, the Byzantines and the Lombards. During the long period of the ''pax longobarda'' the group of buildings at Torba lost its military function and acquired a religious one, thanks to the settlement here in the 8th century of a group of Benedictine nuns who had the monastery built, adding to the original structures further buildings to accommodate the cells, the refectory and the oratory, as well as a portico of three arches to shelter travellers and pilgrims, and in the 11th century a new small church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. During the Frankish period the Seprio became the seat of a count, thus acquiring additional agricultural importance. In the following centuries it became a battleground for some of the most powerful Milanese families, especially the Della Torre and the Visconti in the 13th century: in 1287 Ottone Visconti, Archbishop of Milan, in order to stop his rivals using the place against him, ordered the demolition of the ''castrum'' of Castelseprio, with the exception of the religious buildings. At Torba the nunnery included the Roman tower, which thus survived. From the extant documents (the earliest date from 1049) it is possible to reconstruct the history of the abbey, particularly during the Rinascimento. Once order was restored, many noble families sought to have an abbbess appointed of their own kin, until the nuns moved to Tradate in 1482, under the influence of the Pusterla family, leaving the site to cultivation by tenant farmers. So began the so-called "agricultural period" of the complex until 1799, in the time of Napoleon, and the suppression of the religious orders. Torba lost all monastic connection, and the buildings were converted to purely utilitarian agricultural purposes: the portico was walled up, the entrance to the church was widened so that it could be better used as a store for carts and tools, and the frescoes were whitewashed over.〔 The property changed hands many times in the following years, until in 1971 the last farming family abandoned it. After further years of neglect it was acquired in 1977 by Giulia Maria Mozzoni Crespi who gave it to the Fondo per l'Ambiente Italiano, which restored it. In 1986 the long restoration was completed and the site opened to the public.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Torba Abbey」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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