Nutrire il corpo e lo spirito: i refettori nei monasteri cistercensi

The monastic reform implemented by the Cistercian order imposed a precise organization of the community spaces. In particular the refectory assumed a fundamental role in the monastery: a community space with strict rules of use and access, to the religious monks only. At the end of the eleventh century the refectory finded a precise definition both in its topographical position in relation to the church and cloister, and in the composition of the interior space. In particular the refectory reflected the modularity that it could be found in the architecture of the Cistercian abbeys. The cloister wing dedicated to the corporal needs of the monks is grafted onto the one that, in continuity and adherence to the church, includes the chapter hall and the monks’ hall. If the cloister was placed to the south, the refectory’s building was the southern one, and it also houses the calefactorium and the kitchen. The essay analyzes from this point of view some Italian monasteries (Fossanova, Casamari, Valvisciolo, Chiaravalle di Fiastra, Chiaravalle Milanese, Morimondo and Staffarda) in comparison with other European Cistercian abbeys.