Abbazia di Santa Maria del Bosco, Benedictine abbey in Contessa Entellina, Italy

The Abbazia di Santa Maria del Bosco is a monastic complex of two cloisters: the first square with 36 columns, lightened by serliane and niches, the second rectangular and unpaved with 32 columns. The abbey church was begun in 1583-1588 with foundations about 4 metres per side supporting a vault of about 10 metres, still visible in the crypt; the monastery was built from 1593 and completed in 1646. The late 16th-century entrance portal has an architrave movement derived from Michelangelo's Porta Pia.

Twelve hermit friars formed the first hermitage in the Calatamauro wood at the end of the 13th century. Bishop Bertoldo de Labro of Agrigento authorised it on 21 June 1308 and granted a 40-day indulgence; the church was consecrated on 22 July 1309 with relics of Saints Gerlando and Gregory. Pope Boniface IX raised it to an abbey on 28 July 1400, and in 1491 Innocent VIII joined it to the Olivetan Benedictine congregation.

The abbey's name comes from the Calatamauro wood where twelve hermits settled at the end of the 13th century. In the refectory, a fresco of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes dated 1609 fills the far wall, and a large niche on the west side let one monk read the scriptures aloud during meals, his voice reaching the brother by the door. The Olivetan monk Olimpio da Giuliana wrote the abbey's "Memorie Antiche" in 1582; Torquato Tasso revised and annotated the manuscript, now in the National Library of Naples.

The abbey stands about 3 km from Contessa Entellina, inside the Monte Genuardo and Santa Maria del Bosco nature reserve, reached by a road off the SS188. The complex is entered through a late 16th-century portal; the two cloisters, the Refectory and the Scalone Reale are the main spaces to see. The church was completed in 1757, and dates from 1670 are carved on the eastern corner stones.

The abbey's 1644 refectory, over 300 m², has a rear fresco of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes dated 1609, and a large west niche where one monk read scripture aloud during meals; the echo carried his words to the monk by the entrance door.