ABBAZIA SANTA MARIA – MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO DI CABURRUM

The abbey complex, comprising the Benedictine Abbey of Santa Maria and the Caburrum Archaeological Museum, is located in the Rocca di Cavour Natural Park. The Rocca, a Special Nature Reserve that is part of the protected areas of Piedmont, is an area of considerable naturalistic interest with a significant geological situation and presents traces of frequentation dating back to the Neolithic period and important evidence of rock art, engravings and an exceptional example of prehistoric painting on rock.At its foot stands the Abbey, which in all probability already existed in 1032 and is mentioned in the 1037 will of the Bishop of Turin Landolfo. It is a Romanesque building with three naves, whose current appearance shows a palimpsest of important interventions, including the rebuilding of the upper part of the bell tower during the 15th century, the 17th-century reorganisation of the floor plan with the insertion of new decorative devices and a final Baroque phase that can be read above all in the presbytery.The surviving rooms of the former Benedictine monastery once used as a tinaggio now house the Archaeological Museum of Caburrum, opened in 2008, with exhibits from the ancient Roman centre of Forum Vibii Caburrum, founded by Caius Vibius Pansa Cetronianus probably in 45-44 BC.