HISTORY
The monastery was probably already built in a place called Monte Giardino by the 11th century, and is documented at least by 1073. In addition to the Romanesque church of the 12th century, the choir shows traces of an earlier building. The church was later consecrated by the Bishop Giovanni IV in 1178, while in 1241, chronicles report that the Bishop Henry II della Fratta wanted to retire at the monastery and end his life in prayer and poverty. The complex seems to have originated as a hermitage, later becoming an Abbey affiliated with the Regular Lateran canons, and remained thus until the suppressions of 1798. In 1892, under the control of the Ministry of Public Instruction, the secularized building was given back to the Church, who reopened it. A major restoration campaign was begun in 1914, which partially cleaned up, partially restored the Romanesque identity of the religious buildings, the cloister and the monastery.

ART-HISTORICAL NOTES
The plan of the church is a single nave, and formerly had a squared apse, prior to its destruction in the 19th-century. The beautiful Romanesque church is divided into two parts by an imposing choir screen, lightened in the upper story by two loggias, each consisting of four arches. The screen demarcated the inferior church, reserved for the parishioners, from the superior church, reserved for the canons. The cloister was completed, as were several of the contiguous monastic buildings, in the 15th century. San Vittore preserves some of the most important 13th-century frescoes of the region. They were removed from the walls in the 1960s and installed on panels on the walls of the church. Some of the frescoes  are hidden by the 15th-century wooden choir, which occupies three sides of the superior church (north, west, south).