REFECTORY. – The environment of convents and monasteries intended for communal meals.
Usually it is a large rectangular hall accessible from the cloister and mostly arranged with its longer side parallel to the latter, except in Christian monasteries, where the arrangement is often in a north-west direction (Clairvaux, Fossanova). Some large abbeys, such as Montecassino, had two refectories, one reserved for the monks and the other, larger, also for guests. In relation to the size of the convents, the dimensions of the refectory are sometimes very considerable (that of the convent of St. Francis in Assisi measures 58 x 11 metres). The architecture