SILVACANE (SAUVECANNE). — An ancient Cistercian abbey in the archdiocese of Aix in Provence.
It was founded by Raimondo de Baux in 1132–57; it was suppressed by Pope Eugenio IV in 1443, and its properties were transferred to the metropolitan Chapter of Aix. The abbey church has recently been restored on the exterior; it had three naves, reinforced on the outside by numerous buttresses; a square tower rises above the transept; the principal apse is decorated with an ogival niche from the fifteenth century. Today, however, it has been reduced to a farm, as have the adjoining cloister and the chapter house, which has been converted into a stable.
BIBL.: Bernard D'Hérées, Hist. de l'abbaye cisterc. de Silvacane en Provence d'après les documents, Aix 1891; Cottineau, I, coll. 3037–38. Enrico Josi