SAN MARTINO AL MONTE CIMINO. – An “abbazia nullius” founded in the 13th century, in the province of Viterbo. As early as 83 there is news of the existence in this locality of a church of the same title dependent on the monastery of Farfa.
About 1045 the Benedictine monks, after having made themselves independent of that powerful abbey, rebuilt the church; a century later, however, the monastery was in full decline, so much so that Eugenius III entrusted it to the Cistercians coming from St Sulpice near Belley in Savoy. Since this measure also failed to restore the abbey to prosperity, Innocent III ordered its transfer to the Cistercians of Pointigny, who had a stricter rule, granting them great privileges and concessions (1207). It is to this latter period that the present church dates, built under the government of Abbot Peter with the support of Cardinal Raniero Capocci, bishop of Viterbo, and consecrated about 1230.
After a period of great splendor the abbey was made a commendam in 1378, and in 1645 Innocent X placed it under the patronage of the Pamphili, who built the baronial palace next to the church, demolishing or transforming much of the monastic buildings and renewing the church itself in the Baroque style. Restorations carried out in 1911-13 brought the temple back to its original form, preserving from the non-original parts the spires of the bell towers, a probable 14th-century addition. The ordinary of Viterbo since 2 May 1936 has perpetually united the title of abbot of S. M. with his office.
The church represents a Gothic form more designed in comparison with the other Cistercian churches that arose in Lazio according to the model of Fossanova (q.v.), being the result of a new direct contribution from transalpine currents, especially from the Burgundian school. Characteristic is its position to the right rather than to the left of the remaining buildings, 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 almost completely open above by a large ogee window into which the rose window is inserted, which marks, with the outer contour, the course of the vault of the nave, shows a close affinity with contemporary French works. The same influences are noted in the interior for the iconography of the Egyptian cross ending in a pentagonal apse supported by powerful buttresses, between which open two orders of windows, except on the extreme sides which have only the upper window. Characteristic also is the insertion of the central lantern-tower (barely begun) on the crossing, which is narrower so as to connect with the corner piers by means of crossed ribs. Along the main nave, divided into four bays, each of which corresponds to two in the side aisles, alternate rectangular columns and piers to which are attached half-columns, a feature also noted in the other Cistercian churches of Lazio. The whole produces an imposing and solemn effect, not only because of the grandeur of the 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 church of the 11th century, of the chapter house with three naves and of the refectory divided into two naves by polystyle piers, coeval instead with the present church.