Abbey of Fruttuaria

Fruttuaria is an abbey in the territory of San Benigno Canavese, about twenty kilometers north of Turin, northern Italy.

The foundation of the abbey was patronized by Guglielmo da Volpiano, who donated the land, allowing for the first stone of a large Romanesque-style church to be laid 23 February 1003, consecrated by Ottobiano, bishop of Ivrea, in the presence of Arduin, marchese d'Ivrea and King of Italy, and his consort Berta.

In 1265 the abbey possessed eighty-five churches in Italy alone, as well as four comunes, the quattro terre abbaziali of San Benigno Canavese, Montanaro, Lombardore and Foglizzo.

In 1710 troops of Victor Amadeus II, duke of Savoy, occupied the terre abbaziali, an occupation that lasted until 1741 and only ended with papal renunciation of all territorial control.

In 1749, a new abbot held Fruttuaria in commendam, Carlo Vittorio Amedeo delle Lanze, who in 1770 razed the remains of the Romanesque church and monastery, save the campanile and some of the apse structure, and erected a new and present church in their stead in a late-baroque classicizing design initially by Bernardo Antonio Vittone and completed by Mario Quarini.