Abbey of Santa Maria in Strada

The abbey of Santa Maria in Strada, or the Church of the Nativity of Mary, was founded in 994 by Bernardino di Mandello Boccadiferro on behalf of the Camaldolese monks. Following the land reclamation works in the year 1000, it grew in importance until finally becoming a spiritual and social reference point for the monks themselves and for the entire rural community of Santa Maria in Strada. 

Since the community was presided over by an Abbot, it became customary to call it the Abbey, or Badia, of Santa Maria in Strada. After 1249 the church, together with the adjoining monastery, came under the ownership of the Cistercian Monks and became the property of the Montalto College in 1588. The College was suppressed in 1797 by Napoleonic laws, with the state confiscating all its assets except for the church.

In addition to the church, the complex also includes an adjoining structure formerly used as a monastic residence. Situated in a rural area of the plains near the Samoggia torrent and slightly north of the Via Emilia, it was completely rebuilt in 1787/88 based on the designs of the architect Bartolomeo Barilli while retaining some vestiges of the old building, including portals from the 14th and 15th centuries. 

The façade of the church is divided into two orders, the larger lower one being partitioned by Tuscan order pilasters. The ground plan of the building is a Latin cross with three naves, a transept and a large presbytery. The interior features paintings by Giacomo Cavedoni (1577 - 1660), Vincenzo Spisanelli (1595-1662), Giovan Francesco Gessi (1588 -1649) and Gaetano Gandolfi (1734 - 1802). Since 1763, the presbytery of the church has also housed a precious "Traeri" organ, whose restoration was completed in 2005.