"A" for...
The trace of words
In the archives of ancient origin, such as the one of Pomposa, one can find terms that may sound unusual to today's ears that do not deal with Law or Jurisprudence. Emphyteusis, level, privilege, papal brief... Emphyteusis is a form…
When clothes make the man
Black or white? Robe or cassock? Imagining the spaces and the environment of Pomposa means ideally placing its monks and their figures inside it. its monks and their figures.The spirituality of the brothers was also expressed through the minimalism of…
Beyond what remains
Relic (reliquia) literally means what remains. In the case of saints and martyrs, the term indicates their mortal remains or parts of them. Reliquaries are nothing more than the custody of these remains: caskets, urns, ampoules, boxes, precious fabrics welcome…
From source to source, the voice of the archivist
The project on the archives of the Abbey of Santa Maria di Pomposa concerned, among other documentary nuclei, two large groups of parchments: the one preserved in the State Archive of Modena and the one kept in the Abbey of…
The emperor’s purple
What luck! This profession will never cease to amaze…Wandering around archives it is still possible to come across rare, precious, strange documentsThis is the case of one of the Pomposa documents kept in the State Archive of Modena: the "purple"…
Pomposa with a filter
Can an entire abbey be dressed? The climate of Pomposa does it with the enveloping and diffuse cloak of fog. The fog that veils the Po Valley in its winter and autumn landscapes is nothing more than the condensation of…
Climb to Heaven
1063 AD, Pomposa added a fundamental element to the life of the monastery and the surrounding communities: the bell tower.Built next to the left side of the Basilica, the square-based tower watches over the surrounding area, sister to the Abbey…
Coming and going, the long journey of the remains of a Saint
Guido Strambiati was abbot of Pomposa for 38 years, leading its spiritual and material life from 1008 to 1046. On 31 March of that year, death stopped him while he was travelling to Pavia for the synod of bishops and…
Pecked!
The Pomposa area and the Po Delta area are a merry-go-round of living beings, living between sky, earth and water. Catching them as they fly, swim, nest or feed means stopping to observe carefully, leaving the hurry behind, holding binoculars…
With angled paws
The more you look at flamingos, the more curious they become. With their heads sunk into the water of the brackish lagoon, they hunt for food and their legs are just as deep in the water, in a regular and…