San Benedetto in Conversano, Medieval monastery in Conversano, Italy.

San Benedetto in Conversano is a Romanesque monastery located in the old town of Conversano, in Apulia, southern Italy. The complex includes a church with stone walls and rounded arches, along with a cloister that gives a clear sense of how the medieval building is organized.

Tradition, not documented, places a Benedictine settlement here in the 6th century; the monastery is attested from the 10th century, and in 1110 Pope Paschal II made it directly subject to the Holy See, with the right to elect its own abbot. In 1266 Clement IV installed Cistercian nuns from Methoni, led by Dametta Paleologo, and their abbesses wore mitre and crozier. The complex was suppressed in 1866.

The monastery was dissolved in 1866 and is now owned by the municipality of Conversano. Its former abbesses, several from the Acquaviva d'Aragona family, held the right to wear a bishop's mitre and crozier, which earned the house the name Monstrum Apuliae. From 1577 the abbess received the homage of the male clergy of Castellana by hand-kiss, a privilege abolished only with the monastery itself.

It is worth checking opening conditions before visiting, as parts of the complex may be undergoing restoration and not fully open. The monastery sits in the historic center of Conversano, which is easy to explore on foot.

The abbesses held such authority that Pope Gregory X allowed them to wear a bishop's mitre and carry a pastoral staff, and from 1577 the male clergy of Castellana had to kiss the abbess's gloved hand. This public homage, the baciamano, was repeatedly contested but abolished only when the monastery was suppressed in 1866.