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RS Guidebook suggestion - Monte Cassino - when driving between Rome and Naples

I would recommend stopping at the hilltop Monte Cassino abbey when driving between Rome and Naples. It is close to the autoroute, commands magnificent views, was the site of a famous WW2 battle and has an absolutely stunning church and crypt. Parking was €3 and the abbey was free to enter. (There is also a museum with newsreel with €6 entry which we didn't have time for.)

Edited to add: There is a clean WC block in the top left car park with a spirited young lady attendant!

Posted by
9055 posts

Is it completely rebuilt and operating as a functional abbey?

Posted by
60 posts

It is completely rebuilt with seemingly no expense spared. You would have absolutely no idea it had ever been damaged. The quality of the marble in the church and the gold mosaics in the crypt is breath-taking.

And the church is definitely in use.

Posted by
16660 posts

A little bit of interesting trivia? Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, is also buried at Monte Cassino. "Piero the Unfortunate" succeeded his father but was thrown out of Florence, along with the rest of the family, just 2 years Lorenzo's death. He drowned in the Battle of Garigliano 9 years after that. Anyway, evidently he has a pretty fancy tomb in the cathedral there, left of the high altar.

https://golfoeventi-it.translate.goog/2020/03/21/la-battaglia-di-mola-del-1504-e-la-morte-di-piero-de-medici/?_x_tr_sl=it&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp