Nonantola Abbey:
Portal, the External Frieze of the Left Jamb

Nonantola Abbey, the façade, the portal: the left jamb panels (external face). The panels, commissioned by Abbot Rodolfo, were made between 1002 and 1032 and narrate the foundation of the Abbey and its first centuries of history. From bottom to top you can see: Telamone; the Longobards Astolfo and Anselmo in noble garments; the foundation: King Astolfo donating the land of Nonantola and the first group of assets (represented by the clod) to his brother-in-law Anselmo; Anselmo, who has become a monk, with the first abbey; Anselmo and the monks ask the pope for the body of St. Sylvester; the transport of St. Sylvester’s relics to Nonantola; the burial of St. Sylvester’s corpse in the abbey; the death of Pope Saint Hadrian III near the current San Cesario sul Panaro / Spilamberto villages; the monks move Pope Hadrian’s corpse towards the abbey; the burial of Pope Adrian in the abbey; Samson tears open the lion with his bare hands. Latin inscriptions: de forte dulcedo / de comedente cibus (sweet was born from sour and from the devourer the food came out). This is the famous Samson’ riddle(Judges XIV, 14). By using an allegory, it indicates that those who dominated by taking possession of the church’s property  (the Longobards) provided food for the monks (the donation of Astolfo) and, from the same the dominant dynasty, the sweetness of the founder of the abbey came out.