Bronte's City/Monuments - Nelson Ducea, The Abbey

THE NELSON DUCEA

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Nelson's Castle

Benedictine Abbey

Il Portico Put inside the Castle, the Abbey Of Santa Maria Of Maniace constitutes the biggest part of the building complex called Dukedom Nelson.

The ancient abbey, dedicated to Very Holy Maria, had been built by Guglielmo II° il Buono in 1174, for express wish of the mother the queen Margerita di Navarra, in memory of the bloody battle won by Giorgio Maniace against the Arabs (1040).

Built on a basalt cliff, is located on the flat ground of the lower part of the valley, on the left bank of the Saraceno torrent, place extremely striking and also of ancient origins: fairly close, in fact, in April of 1905, during some work on the fields, were found "two beautiful Roman mosaics of the low empire, storied with animals and human figures".

Externally the abbey appears as a low building with Sicilian roof, rectangular windows and doors framed in lava stone.
In the center of the paved courtyard there is a well in masonry of octagonal shape with elements in stone of decorative crowning, with an octagonal perimeter footboard cordoned off.

The complex of buildings, in the state in which it has reached us, gives only a vague idea of what the original structure of the abbey church, the chapter house, the guesthouse and the cloister of the monastery was.

The news relating to the collapses due to frequent earthquakes (including the devastating one of 1693) lead us to suppose that what we see corresponds to a minimal part of the initial situation.

It is equally probable that the most consistent volume of the monastery - called the Nelson Duchy - is the one that has reached us in the best conditions since, once it passed to the Nelsons, it was restored and used as a permanent residence.

All the other structures, however, remained linked to the management of the vast agricultural estate.

The rooms, organized around a central courtyard (see numbers 19 and 37 on the map on the right), were used by the Nelsons as a warehouse, cellars, stables and granary.

In the centre of the courtyard is an octagonal well (see no. 37) in masonry with decorative stone crowning elements, surrounded by an octagonal platform with a curb.

In the long and wide Nelson granary (see no. 46), recently transformed into a large hall with a single wooden roof supported by "Palladian-style composite trusses" (it has become a study and conference centre), interesting remains of the ancient church of Santa Maria have been brought to light (including the apse).

The planimetric scheme of the rooms and some architectural elements of the courtyard suggest that the abbey was organised on a ring plan, around a central courtyard (which is accessed from the main entrance courtyard to the Duchy).


In the two photos above: the cloister in front of the church and a plan of the Duchy from the second half of the 19th century (to identify the various rooms and their use, compare the same image in Il Castello dei Nelson, restauri e trasformazioni (The Nelson Castle, restorations and transformations). In the three photos in this box: the paved courtyard with the Abbey's octagonal well in the center (no. 37 in the plan); the windows of the Church of Santa Maria (no. 1) and the small bell tower; in the third photo, the covered passage between two courtyards (no. 25). In addition to the Duchy's granary (no. 46), now transformed into a conference room, there are other rooms in the courtyard that, at the time of the Nelsons, housed the blacksmith's workshop (no. 33), the stables and kennels, the carriage house, and the servants' and workers' quarters. Today, everything has been restored and modified to accommodate different needs.

The three turrets

It is also clear that the ancient Norman towers that protected the abbey, and which are still partially visible, were part of a building complex of considerable proportions and importance.

Of the towers, the one next to the main façade (photo on the left, number 7a in the plan above) is perhaps the only one dating back to the original period; it has a solid and compact structure with vertical sighting and defense slots and is perhaps the most consistent remnant of the robust fortification that was largely destroyed by the earthquake of 1693.

The two watchtowers on the river to the north-west (photo on the right) and to the north-east (numbers 20a and 45 in the plan) date back, however, in the guise that has come down to us, to a more recent period.

They have a cylindrical volume with thick rough masonry crowned by slightly projecting battlements on a frame of terracotta elements.

The north-west tower (see no. 7a on the map) was used until recently as a permanent weather station.

These towers, which together with the portal of the church of Santa Maria recall the medieval past of the monument, have meant that the improper name of "Castle" persistently given to the Benedictine abbey for centuries has persisted.

The Nelson Castle Complex has a total surface area of over 3,000 m2 (of which approximately 350 m2 are occupied by the church and approximately 520 m2 by the Nelson museum which occupies the entire first floor of the West wing).

In addition, the complex is served by over 1,600 m2 of open space (courtyards strictly pertaining to the buildings) and approximately 4,200 m2 of garden and a park that exceeds 12 hectares.

Recent archaeological excavations have provided a comprehensive answer regarding the original form of the church of Santa Maria di Maniace: in the large old granary of the Duke, now transformed by the Municipality of Bronte into a modern conference center, (see no. 46 in the plan above) the basement of three semicircular wall structures of considerable thickness have been brought to light.

They undoubtedly constitute the foundation of three apses, which collapsed during the terrible earthquake of 1693, of which the large access arches are clearly visible on the rear part of the church.

They suggest a church, with a longitudinal basilica body with three naves, a high tri-apsed presbytery facing east, a shallow transept and a narthex composed of two towers that flanked the façade, which was almost double the current depth. (vedi Ipotesi di ricostruzione, see Reconstruction hypothesis)

Some history of: Horatio Nelson, The Maniace Abbey

Translated by Sam Di Bella
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