The ‘Citadel of Campania’: Growth and Prosperity

Abstract

This chapter examines Monte Cassino’s long-standing reputation as a sacred mountain. It asks how the abbey conditioned, reinforced, and engendered its place in the history of the Western religious tradition. Its physical location and environment are critical to understanding its history of settlement and inhabitation, time and again, after repeated episodes of destruction and exile. But how exactly did the abbey achieve this sacralised status? And what historical conditions contributed to Monte Cassino’s growth and prosperity beyond a localised influence? As argued throughout this chapter, the abbey’s spiritual and historical allure are defining features of its past, demonstrating formative qualities for understanding the abbey’s identity and sense of its own history, culture, and tradition.