Il Chiostro

Located on the right side of the Abbey and also built in brick, the cloister is later and in fact dates back to the 18th century. The square plan consists of a central forecourt surrounded by a ring-shaped corridor, separated from each other by a colonnade with round arches on pillars of a stylised variation of the Doric order. The arcaded walkway is entirely covered by a series of cross vaults. In 2014, with an intervention subsidised by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Jesi and carried out by the students of the Liceo Artistico “Mannucci” of Jesi, the Porta dei Monaci (Monks' Gate), closed by Napoleon, was reopened, connecting the cloister with the church. The intention was to restore the Abbey to its original role of union between the human and spiritual dimensions, between the dimension of work and that of prayer, according to the philosophy of the Cistercian order. In 2015, during routine maintenance work, the cloister once again became the talk of the town, revealing a complex stratigraphy starting from the Late Bronze Age (1350 to 1200 B.C.) and reaching as far back as the Late Antique and Early Medieval period (AD 235 to 656). The finds are now kept and can be visited at the Permanent Archaeological Exhibition housed on the ground floor of the Library.