Shock and Awe: The Rise and Fall of San Vincenzo Al Volturno

The site of San Vincenzo al Volturno, lying in a mountain valley of Molise, southern Italy, might by today's standards be considered rather remote. In the late eighth and ninth centuries, however, it was one of the most famous Benedictine monasteries of Latin Christendom, home to a thriving centre of leaning and located strategically on the borders of Lombard and Frankish territory. This came to an end on 10 October 881, when an Arab warband sacked the monastery, leaving it in ruins. Now, thanks to extensive archaeological excavations over forty years, a new story can be told about this important site, a narrative that reveals the art, architecture, and archaeology of this monastic city as it thrived during the Carolingian renaissance, as well as the devastating effects of the Arab attack.