Badia Fiesolana

Badia Fiesolana

The Badia Fiesolana is one of the most important places in the city of Fiesole not only for its historical-architectural value but also because ithouses the European University Institute, one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in the area.

Located near the Convent of San Domenico in Via Badia dei Roccettini, Badia Fiesolana sets in a context of particular landscape value: outside the urban environment, north-facing the hills and west over the Mugnone Valley. From the High Middle Ages until 1028, it was the Cathedral of Fiesolededicated to Saints Pietro and Romolo.

​Rebuilt by the Camaldolese monks who dedicated it to Sant Bartolomeo, with the addition of the monastic complex, in the 13th Century it passed to the Benedictines of Montecassino, and from 1440 to the Augustinian or Lateran Regular Canons, also known as “Roccettini,” hence the name of the street.

In the centuries that followed, the Badia served as a shelter for the sick during an epidemic in 1520, and in the following decade, it was adapted as a camp during the siege of Florence until its suppression in 1778 following the grand-ducal reforms. In 1815, the monastic complex was returned to the diocese, becoming the residence of the bishops.