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216:. Inside the church, some tombs have been rediscovered and a crypt with an ambulatory, datable to the 8th century, which is reached by two flights of stone stairs set into the side walls. To the originally rectangular church was added in the 12th and 13th centuries an apse of tufa and brick. To increase the capacity of the building a removable wooden mezzanine structure was added to the main body of the church, over the crypt.
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Roman burial grounds, it is characterised by a powerful yet slender construction. The perimeter walls progressively reduce in thickness from the base (about 2 metres) up to the roof level, where they are about 85 cm, creating a series of steps (known as "offsets") which are visible both inside and outside the structure, which is more than 18 metres high. The angles of the walls are also reinforced with buttresses.
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Lombard period this room was used as the burial place of the abbesses. Among those frescoes still legible can be made out the figure of a nun which has in the inscription the typically
Lombard name of Aliberga, and a cross with the Alpha and Omega on the horizontal arms. Among the materials reused for the construction of this floor is a piece of Roman marble with a relief carving of a crested helmet.
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is now recognisable, thanks to a fragment of an inscription) and below them a procession of eight nuns, with their hands expressionistically depicted in attitudes of prayer. On the south wall are the remains of a fresco of the Virgin and Child, with a kneeling petitioner holding a candle. Finally, on
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The restoration works of the FAI have brought to light the large arches of the portico of the main conventual building, now a refreshment area, set on the Roman line of the wall, still visible inside the refectory, where can also be seen the large original fireplace. The portico was a provision for
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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
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The tower, the function of which was to provide a look-out inside the Roman defensive system, forms the point closest to the Olana river and is one of the few remaining specimens in northern Italy of Roman defensive architecture of the 5th-6th centuries. Built of materials salvaged from demolished
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The tower interiors show more evidently the complex history of the building: on the first floor - indeed, next to the loophole windows of the military period - is an ogive window of the 15th century. The scraps of fresco remaining on the walls and the niches cut into them are evidence that in the
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The pictures on the limed walls, because of their poor state of preservation, are rather fragmentary and do not permit the exact identification of their subject matter. The frescoes have two identifiable phases of the frescoes: the older one is of the 9th-10th centuries, and the later one of the
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nuns, They led to the construction of a monastery, 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 travelers and pilgrims. In the 11th century, a new small church dedicated to the
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The church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was built in several phases between the 8th and 13th centuries, using stones collected from the river Olona bound with sand and lime. The interior contains traces of an earlier ecclesiastical structure: the remains of a
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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.
131:. 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
97:), 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
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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
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pilgrims and travellers, who were thus enabled to rest under its cover and to make use of the oven near which is the stairway leading to the upper floor of the tower.
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dividing it into five parts, within which are single window openings in splayed surrounds. The upper perimeter is decorated with "hanging" or inverted arches in
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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
224:, together with the inscription (A)KIM. The variety in the external walling testifies to the tortuous history of the church through the centuries.
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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
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with a square outline, pre-dating the present construction, are still visible. The external wall of the apse, with large pebbles, has four
162:. Once order was restored to Lombardy, many noble families sought to have an abbess appointed of their own kin, until the nuns moved to
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From the extant documents (the earliest date from 1049) it is possible to reconstruct the history of the abbey, particularly during the
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of
Castelseprio, with the exception of the religious buildings. At Torba the nunnery included the Roman tower, which thus survived.
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11th-13th centuries. Some visible fragments on the campanile are of the later phase: among them can be identified the face of
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285:. On the west wall, it is presumed that there were the figures of saints and martyrs (of whom only that of
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269:(with no beard), enthroned between two angels and originally close to figures of the Virgin Mary and some
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178:, which restored it. In 1986, the long restoration was completed and the site opened to the public.
151:, in order to stop his rivals using the fortifications against him, ordered the demolition of the
316:"World Heritage Committee inscribes five new sites in Colombia, Sudan, Jordan, Italy and Germany"
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Italia
Langobardorum - Castelseprio-Torba: presentation for UNESCO World Heritage List candidacy
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The first nucleus of the
Castelseprio complex, of which Torba is part, originated under the
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the north wall are the remains of a painted lion's head, identified by some as that of
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was used over the next few centuries by the Goths, the
Byzantines and finally the
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Between the 8th and 11th centuries, the second floor was used by the nuns as an
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107:. One of its outliers was a look-out station and tower, at what is now Torba.
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brick, which create an interesting chromatic effect popular in
Lombard
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65:. The buildings are part of a list of structures associated with "
265:(Roman awnings), which is a rare subject. Above is the figure of
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FAI: Monastero di Torba - Informazioni utili e orari d'apertura
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481:, MIBAC, Soprintendenza Archeologica per la Lombardia, 2005.
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Torba
Monastery: view over the tower and the ditch below
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where Torba was founded, the Seprio (originally called
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or fortress was built here, the origin of the present
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Longobards in Italy, Places of Power (568–774 A.D.)
532:Buildings and structures in the Province of Varese
437:Italia Langobardorum - Castelseprio-Torba: history
294:, implying that this was once a depiction of the
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277:can be made out, probably intended to form a
16:Unesco world heritage site in northern Italy
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195:A fragment of the remains of the frescoes
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472:Monastero di Torba - Invito alla Visita
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479:Il Parco Archeologico di Castel Seprio
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273:. Presently only the figure of Saint
40:monastero di Torba, abbadia di Torba
547:Romanesque architecture in Lombardy
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399:"Monastero di Torba: descrizione"
345:"Castelseprio-Torba: The Castrum"
118:. During the long period of the
63:Castelseprio Archaeological Park
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552:14th-century churches in Italy
527:Benedictine nunneries in Italy
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143:in the 13th century. In 1287,
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176:Fondo per l'Ambiente Italiano
374:"Monastero di Torba: storia"
89:. The area around the river
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172:Giulia Maria Mozzoni Crespi
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568:
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467:, Tradate, Colombo, 1994.
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135:families, especially the
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49:in Torba, a frazione of
537:Monasteries in Lombardy
452:The Longobards in Italy
281:with Mary, and perhaps
214:Romanesque architecture
347:. Italia Langobardorum
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463:Pier Giuseppe Sironi,
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542:Lombard architecture
302:Notes and references
71:World Heritage Sites
499: /
465:I Racconti di Torba
174:who gave it to the
149:Archbishop of Milan
503:45.7294°N 8.8633°E
267:Christ Pantocrator
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245:The tower of Torba
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401:(in Italian). FAI
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73:in June 2011.
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458:Bibliography
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405:27 September
403:. Retrieved
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378:. Retrieved
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349:. Retrieved
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320:. Retrieved
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182:Architecture
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105:Castelseprio
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30:, otherwise
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506: /
447:UNESCO List
283:Saint Peter
160:Renaissance
137:Della Torre
129:Virgin Mary
124:Benedictine
44:Benedictine
28:Torba Abbey
521:Categories
491:45°43′46″N
296:Tetramorph
292:Saint Mark
494:8°51′48″E
202:campanile
61:, in the
318:. UNESCO
271:apostles
141:Visconti
139:and the
133:Milanese
116:Lombards
55:Lombardy
474:, 2011.
263:velaria
259:oratory
222:Joachim
164:Tradate
153:castrum
112:castrum
100:castrum
95:Sibrium
77:History
47:nunnery
36:Italian
279:Deesis
206:lesene
187:Church
83:Romans
470:FAI,
237:Tower
228:Abbey
210:cotto
91:Olona
59:Italy
407:2015
382:2015
353:2015
324:2015
110:The
87:Alps
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34:(
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