The abbey of Piona, or priory of San Nicola di Piona, is a Romanesque monastic complex on the Olgiasca peninsula, in Colico, jutting into the lake at the foot of Monte Legnone. It has a single-nave church, a 13th-century cloister and, since 1938, a small community of Cistercian monks.
History
The first proof of a monastic community here is a stone cippus, set under the porticoes, which recalls Agrippinus, Bishop of Como from 607 to 617: ten years after his ordination he had an oratory for Saint Justina the martyr raised, arranged his own burial there and celebrated its dedication. The cippus suggests a probably eremitic community; of that oratory a small apse remains, just behind the present church.
In the 11th century the place joined the Cluniac reform: the act of adhesion is lost, but it is deduced from the other Cluniac priories of the area (Vertemate, Vallate, Figine). A document of 1277 says that eight monks lived at Piona, with the rule observed and the accounts in balance. The church was consecrated to the Virgin in 1138 by Bishop Ardizzone: this is known from a frescoed inscription, discovered in 1906 and today almost illegible. It is unclear whether it was already dedicated also to Saint Nicholas of Bari, protector of sailors, but a deed of sale of 1154 speaks of the property “of San Nicola di Piona”. The cloister was built between 1252 and 1257 at the wish of the prior Bonaccorso da Canova of Gravedona, as two plaques attest.
Then the priory declined. In 1432 the Duke of Milan appointed an administrator of its property after the death of the last remaining monk, and from 1488 until the suppression of 1798 the priory was held in commend by nineteen commendatory abbots. In 1593 Bishop Ninguarda found it in ruins. With the Cisalpine Republic’s law of 8 May 1798 the property was confiscated and in 1801 assigned to a private owner; the complex changed hands several times and became a farm. In September 1906 the first restorations brought to light the inscriptions and frescoes. In November 1935 Commendatore Pietro Rocca bought the estate and, on 25 September 1937, donated it to the Cistercian congregation of Casamari, in memory of Cesare and Lidia Rocca, who died in the Mai Lalà massacre in Ethiopia. The monks returned on 13 February 1938. Some sources date the commend to 1475 or 1480 and the donation to 1936.
What to see
The church has a single nave, faces east, and measures 27.60 metres by 8 and reaches 9.50 in height (according to the monks’ site; other sources write about 20 metres long). The gabled facade is sober, with a portal, a wide single-light window and a small cross-shaped one, and the bronze door is by Giuseppe Abram (1982), with scenes from the life of Saint Benedict. The wall changes quality several times: the apse, round and of well-squared stones, has a conical roof of dark slabs of a transalpine type, and behind it you can see the ruin of the apse of Santa Giustina. The bell tower, beside the apse, is square, and for the monks’ site it is a 17th-century rebuilding; other sources say late 18th century. It replaced an octagonal bell tower, similar to that of Santa Maria del Tiglio in Gravedona, which collapsed because of ground subsidence.
The interior is austere and has no decoration other than the frescoes of the apse and presbytery, of uncertain author and date, perhaps 12th-13th century: in the half-dome Christ in a mandorla with the symbols of the Evangelists, below the series of the twelve apostles and on the arch Christ blessing, held by angels. At the entrance two late Romanesque stylophoric lions support the holy-water stoups; along the right wall is the urn of a Roman girl, Festina, found in 1966, and on the left a canvas of the Regina pacis by Telemaco Pergola, donated in 1943.
The cloister, on the south side of the church, has an irregular shape and round arches on marble columns with capitals all different, already Gothic in taste, with plant and animal motifs. On the north wall of the portico a fresco is a sort of calendar of the year’s farm work; other frescoes range from the 13th to the 15th century. From the cloister you enter the chapter house, with 18th-century Venetian choir stalls from the sacristy of San Zeno in Verona. The monks sell liqueurs, herbs, honey and cosmetics in the shop, and according to Wikipedia the community lives on these products.
Practical information
According to the Orari page of the Cistercians’ site on Piona, consulted in October 2026 (the page is undated):
- Forecourt and Grotto of the Madonna: 7 to 19. Church, cloister and chapter house: 8 to 12 and 14 to 18.30.
- Weekday Mass at 7; Sunday and holiday Masses at 9.30, 11 and 16.30 (no Saturday evening Mass); Vespers at 18.30.
- Shop: on weekdays 10 to 11.50 and 15 to 17; on holidays 15 to 17.30.
- Address: via Abbazia di Piona 55, Colico; telephone 0341 940331.
- From the shore you can see the abbey’s promontory: see the Laghetto di Piona.