San Fruttuoso Abbey

San Fruttuoso Abbey (Italian: Abbazia di San Fruttuoso) is a Romanesque religious building located in a secluded bay in the Italian Riviera near Genoa, between Camogli and Portofino, The abbey used to be under the patronage of the Genoese aristocratic Doria family, who protected it with a watchtower built by the architect Giovanni Ponzello in 1562.

[1][2] It is the seat of the Catholic parish of San Fruttuoso di Capodimonte, belonging to the Vicariate of Recco-Uscio-Camogli of the Archdiocese of Genoa.

[4] The abbey is dedicated to Saint Fructuosus, a third-century bishop of Tarraco (now Tarragona in north-east Spain) who was martyred during the persecutions of the Roman Emperor Valerian.

In 1954, an underwater statue of Jesus, the Christ of the Abyss, was erected in the bay of San Fruttuoso at a depth of 17 metres (56 ft).

In 1983, the last descendants of the Doria Pamphilj family donated the Abbey and its dependencies to the heritage organization Fondo per l'Ambiente Italiano, which conducted a complete renovation of the buildings from 1985 to 2017.

The abbey church
Christ of the Abyss
Finnish writer Göran Schildt's boat Daphne at San Fruttuoso in 1948.