SANTA MARIA D'ARABONA. — The abbey of St. Mary of Arabona stands in the territory of Manoppello (Chieti), near a place where there was once a temple dedicated to the goddess Orbona or Ara Deae Bonae.
Founded in 1208 by Cistercian monks possibly coming from Casamari (Enlart) or from the Roman abbey of Tre Fontane near St. Paul’s (Bertaux), it is one of the most significant monuments of Burgundian architecture in central Italy. Its first abbot was St. Aldemaro. Built, like Casamari and Fossanova, in travertine, it closely resembles them in iconography. Inside, the dense interweaving of ribs and ogives, which stretch tautly from the capitals and corbels to the keystones, closely links it to the Burgundian prototypes. The construction, begun from the choir, was not completed: work was interrupted for unspecified reasons at the second bay of the naves, which may be supposed to have been intended to include at least five more. In a recent restoration completed in 1951, the unstable foundations were consolidated, the apses were isolated, the interior and exterior were cleared of later additions, and the façade wall was renewed on the section now serving as the front. The present plan thus takes the form of a Greek cross. The choir is rectangular, and the transept has on both sides two small chapels arranged along the axis of the abbey. On the walls of the ends and at the back of the choir open three large rose windows. The building is dominated by the system of the triple arch, or arch with a double ring, already used in Abruzzo at St. Clement in Casauria, a typical constructive element of the Burgundian style. The sculptural decoration of the capitals and corbels, with caulicoli and stylized foliage, is likewise of further derivation.
The rigorous construction evident in the choir and transept, however, slackens in the naves: from this one may infer that construction would continue into the 13th century, first under the direct supervision of Cistercian builders and later with the intervention of local craftsmen. Documents show that the monastery, after a brief flourishing period, had already declined by 1330. In 1587 it became a commendatory abbey of the College of St. Bonaventure in Rome. In the choir, in addition to the ciborium and