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The Torba Monastery is in Gornate Olona, Torba, on the slopes of the hill on which the Castelseprio archaeological park can be found.

The first part of the complex (the so-called “castrum”) was built by the Romans in the V century A.D. as a military outpost against the Barbarians along the north-western ridge of the Alps. The area of the Olona River, where Torba stands, was called “Sibrium” and in Roman times was, in fact, a place of strategic importance both for the supply of water and the transalpine communication route.

The existing documents (the first written records date back to 1049) tell the history of the monastery, particularly interesting during the Renaissance period. Once the order was restored, many noble families appointed as abbess a person of their own lineage until the time of the Pusterlas, who eventually moved the nuns to Tradate (VA), in 1482.
Thus began the so-called “agricultural period” of the whole complex, which lasted until 1799: during the Napoleonic era many religious orders were suppressed, so Torba lost its status of a monastery. The entire building was thus adapted to agriculture: the porch was walled, the entrance of the church enlarged and transformed into a warehouse for wagons and tools, and all the frescoes were covered with new plaster.

The following centuries witnessed several changes of ownership, until 1971 when the last peasant family left this place. After years of neglect and abandonment, the complex was purchased by Giulia Maria Mozzoni Crespi, in 1977. She, in turn, donated it to the Italian Environment Fund, which decided to restructure it. In 1986, the long restoration works were completed, and the place was opened to the public.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)