SAN MARTINO AL MONTE CIMINO. — An abbey nullius founded in the 13th century, in the province of Viterbo. As early as 838, there is evidence of the existence in this locality of a church of the same dedication dependent on the monastery of Farfa.
Around 1045, after becoming independent of that powerful abbey, the Benedictine monks rebuilt the church; a century later, however, the monastery was in a state of complete decline, to such an extent that Eugenius III entrusted it to the Cistercians coming from S. Sulpizio near Belley in Savoy. Since this measure too failed to restore the abbey to prosperity, Innocent III imposed its transfer to the Cistercians of Pointigny, who observed a stricter rule, granting them extensive privileges and concessions (1207). The present church dates from this latter period; it was built under the government of Abbot Pietro with the support of Cardinal Raniero Capocci, bishop of Viterbo, and consecrated around 1230.
After a period of great splendor, the abbey was made a commendatory benefice in 1378, and in 1645 Innocent X placed it under the patronage of the Pamphili, who built the baronial palace beside the church, demolishing or transforming a large part of the monastic buildings and renovating the church itself according to Baroque taste. Restorations carried out in 1911–15 brought the church back to its original forms, while retaining, among the non-original elements, the spires of the bell towers, probably a 14th-century addition. Since 2 May 1936, the Ordinary of Viterbo has united in perpetuity with it the title of abbot of S. M.
The church represents a more advanced Gothic form than the other Cistercian churches built in Latium Fossanova (v.), being the result of a new direct influx of transalpine currents, especially those of the Burgundian school. Its characteristic feature is the position of the remaining buildings on the right rather than on the left, as is customary in the other monasteries of the Order, in order to preserve pre-existing structures. The façade, flanked by the two bell towers and opened above almost entirely to the daylight by a large ogival window into which the rose window is inserted, marking, with its outer contour, the course of the vault of the nave, displays a close affinity with contemporary French works. The same influences can be observed in the interior, in the ground plan in the form of a Greek cross ending in a pentagonal apse supported by massive buttresses, between which two tiers of windows open, except on the outermost sides, which have only the upper window. Also characteristic is the insertion of the central bell-tower-tiburium, which remains barely begun, over the crossing; it is narrower than the latter, thus connecting with the corner piers by means of intersecting ribs. Along the main nave, divided into four bays, each corresponding to two bays in the side aisles, columns alternate with rectangular piers to which semicolumns are attached—a feature likewise found in the other Cistercian churches of Latium. The whole produces an imposing and solemn effect, not only because of the grandeur of its proportions, but also because of the vertical thrust that animates the entire composition.
Of the other monastic buildings, only remains survive of the Romanesque cloister belonging to the primitive 11th-century church, of the three-naved chapter house, and of the refectory divided into two naves by clustered piers, the latter two contemporary with the present church.