The Abbey of Maguzzano: A Haven of Peace and Spirituality
The Abbey of Maguzzano is located on the lower Lake Garda, in a suggestive natural setting between morainic hills and water reflections, representing a place of great quiet and spirituality. Its origins date back to the 9th century, when Benedictine monks founded a small abbey in a strategic position near Verona and Brescia, important not only from a religious point of view but also economically and militarily.
Over the centuries, the abbey has experienced alternating periods: moments of monastic prosperity alternated with wars, looting, and destruction, followed by subsequent reconstructions. A critical moment arrived in 1797 with the arrival of Napoleon, which led to the suppression of religious orders: the assets were confiscated and the complex fell into ruin.
The rebirth began in 1904, when some Trappist Cistercian monks from Algeria purchased and recovered the monastery. In 1938 the abbey was purchased by Don Giovanni Calabria, later proclaimed a saint, who gave it a new spiritual impulse.
Today Maguzzano is a living center that unites past and present: it hosts a male and a female community of the Don Calabria Institute and promotes cultural activities, seminars, and ecumenical and interreligious meetings, also favoring dialogue with Orthodox and Lutherans and moments of shared Christian prayer.
The Abbey is organized to welcome individuals, families, and groups with the possibility of staying and with spaces equipped for meetings, reunions, training, cultural and musical activities.
Thursday at the Monastery – July & August
