Luca Giordano

The hall of paintings in the Montecassino Abbey Museum starts with the wonderful collection of sketches, depicting the life of St Benedict, created by the genius of Luca Giordano (1634-1705).

The painter is remembered in particular for the decoration of the central vault of the original abbey.

Among the many sketches on display is a fragment of a fresco by Luca Giordano entitled St Benedict Mourns the Destruction of Monte Cassino. For this fresco, the painter was inspired, as for other works inside the Cassinese Monastery, by the life of St Benedict as recounted in the second book of his Dialogues by St Gregory the Great. 

Among the artist's works, the following are noteworthy: Consecration of the Desire Basilica in 1071, Benedict and Totila, Miracle of flour, Desiderio praying, Benedetto frees the slave, Desiderio renounces the papal insignia, Benedetto shows the abbey seat to Desiderio, Benedetto on Peter's ship, Dressing of a monk.

Destroyed by an earthquake in 1349 and rebuilt again in 1366, in the 17th century the abbey took on the typical appearance of a Neapolitan Baroque monument, thanks also to the pictorial decorations by numerous artists including Francesco Solimena, Francesco de Mura, Paolo de Matteis and Sebastiano Conca.