The Restored Abbey of San Martino Celebrates Both Old and New

Built in 1298, The Abbey of San Martino dei Bocci or Valserena, also referred to as The Charterhouse of Parma, has been drastically altered both inside and out over the past 700+ years since its origin. It began as a Cisterian Abbey and housed monks for any of its years, but later the church was deconsecrated and used as a military base and a storage space. Thhe grounds were used for farming, leaving much of the Abbey neglected and crumbling.

But today, extensive restoration has returned the Abbey of San Martino to its former beauty and inspiration. More than that, it is the new home for the Study Center and Communication Archive (CSAC), an archive, museum and research center of the University of Parma. Founded in 1968 by Professor Arturo Carlo Quintavalle, the center’s focus serves to educate by sharing its vast resources of historical and artistic material. Containing five different categories of material (art, media, architectural projects, photography, fashion), this archive is the widest ranging collection of visual and design material in Italy, including thousands of drawings and paintings of clothing styles, architecture, comic satire, and more. Among other historical documentations, 100 movies, 300 sculptures, 150 cameras, and thousands of movie posters have been preserved within the walls of the Abbey.

The CSAC continues to compliment the richness of the Abbey with its plans to add classrooms, laboratories, studios, a cafeteria and a hostel, all open to the public. A museum inside the church has already been organized, and offers documentation of fine art, architecture, and fashion of Italy dating back hundreds of years.

Although the abbey has been altered much throughout history, the interior of the church maintains its sixteenth century fashion, attributed to the designs of painter Cesare Baglione and Aurelio Gatti.

In celebration of the restoration of the abbey, completion of the museum, and continuing addition of new academic spaces by the study centre organization, Francesca Zanella, Chair of the C.S.A.C. will hold a presentation titled A Medevial Abbey for Contemporary Art at New York University’s home of the Department of Italian Studies.

-Marisa Wherry