Abbey of San Giovanni Evangelista

Monastic community belonging to the Italian Province of the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict, founded in 980.

The Monastery of San Giovanni Evangelista stands in the heart of the historic center of Parma, just a few meters from the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. In 980, Bishop Sigefredo II built a small monastery "outside but near the city walls," which he entrusted to the sons of Saint Benedict. The first abbot of the new community was Giovanni, a canon of the nearby cathedral, who is venerated as a saint and co-patron of the city together with Hilary of Poitiers. In 1477, after the community of San Giovanni joined the Congregation of Unity of Santa Giustina, the monks undertook the renovation of the Monastery, which had been completely destroyed by a fire during previous struggles for supremacy among local lords. In 1510, the first works of a much larger complex were completed, structured around three cloisters and rich in works of art, a pride of the Parmese Renaissance. The abbey church boasts frescoes by Correggio, Parmigianino, Anselmi, and works by many other important painters. Over the centuries, the monastic complex has undergone expansions but also disfigurements, due to many necessary adaptations and also to the sad events that followed: the French occupations of the 18th century, three suppressions during the 19th century, up to the definitive expulsion of the community and the confiscation of its assets. Even today, the Monastery is state property. The community, reconstituted at the end of the 19th century at the Abbey of Torrechiara, tried several times to regain possession of the Monastery. Finally, in 1920, Abbot Emanuele Caronti was granted permission to reoccupy part of the premises, which in the meantime the Ministry of War had transformed into the Ulrico Tonti Barracks. In 1945, the Monastic Community regained full use of the Monastery, returning from the Abbey of Torrechiara. The Monastery is associated, as a dependent house, with the Abbey of Santa Maria della Neve in Torrechiara. Currently, the Community is composed of 7 monks, 6 of whom are priests.