Nonantola

The Benedictine Abbey of Nonantola, just outside Modena, was one of the most prestigious and powerful in medieval Italy. Founded in 752 by the Lombard King Aistulf’s brother-in-law the abbot St Anselm, the richly endowed abbey soon became one of the greatest landowners in northern Italy. Emperors courted it and granted it favours. In the 9th century, two of its abbots served as Imperial ambassadors to Constantinople.

In 900 the invading Hungarians levelled the monastery and slew all the monks they could find. It was quickly rebuilt and became renowned for its scriptorium. In 1058, the abbot Gotescalco wrote a charter, donating 760 hectares of farm land surrounding the abbey to local families to be passed down in perpetuity from father to son in exchange for building walls and defending the monastery from attackers.

The Partecipanza Agraria (Agricultural Attendance) as it's known, survives to this day (along with several others around Emilia), although much of the land once drained by canals has reverted to wetlands, now protected as the Oasi di Riequilibrio Ecologico di Torrazzuolo.