Farfa, located in the heart of the ancient Sabina at the foot of Monte Acuziano in a mystic silent atmosphere, is a small village surrounded by a lush, charming nature. The name comes from the river Farfa (Farfarus according to Ovidio and Fabaris to Virgilio), which runs close by.
The village, built around the abbey’s precincts, is enclosed by walls and consists of low buildings. The handicraft shops at the ground floor, with their typical wooden lintels, were rented by the monks during the big fairs taking place in April and September, which attracted many people from the whole Central Italy.
The plan is typically Medieval, with shops at the ground floor and the living quarters upstairs, a timeless place.
The village has developped along the main road, parallel to the Monastery longer side and the streets took their names after the products which were sold there. Only one street, built by Alessandro Farnese in 1572, leads perpendicularly to the entrance of the abbey.
During the visit several handmade products can be purchased, such as biscuits, ceramics and textiles. Some of the fabrics have even been woven with a still functioning loom from the 600’s. Selected food products and cosmetics from Italian and European abbeys, monasteries and convents can be found at the local herbalist’s shop.
Above the portal of the abbey church a fresco attributed to Cola dell’Amatrice (1508) and the crest of the Orsini family can be admired and the facade is decorated with fragments from pagan and early Christian sarcophagi.
The church preserves precious works, such as a Last Judgment from the 1561 painted by the Flemish artist Henrik van der Broek in the rare technique of oil on wall. The painting of the revered Virgin and Child, called Madonna di Farfa, from the thirteen century was coated in the nineteenth century by a sheet of embossed brass, which leaves only the faces uncovered. The transept and choir ceilings are decorated with beautiful frescoes in the grotesque style of the Zuccari school (1576).
In the Archaeological Medieval Museum several well preserved impressive works can be found, such as an ivory casket from the Amalfi School of the eleventh century and the throne of Abbot Sicardo from the ninth century with its decorated back. At the centre of the museum on display a showcase with twelve scenes representing the most important events occurred in the Abbey and, in two adjacent rooms, two large paintings depicting life in the Middle Ages and the famous fair of Farfa, which still strikes the popular imagination.
Among the many precious objects: miniatures, manuscripts on parchment and rare, important editions such as the famous “Encyclopedia” by Diderot and D’Alembert printed in Lucca in 1700.The library preserves codes, manuscripts and about 45,000 volumes included one of the first books printed in Italy, the “De Civitate Dei” by Sant’Agostino from 1467.
