Monastery San Placido Calonerò in Messina
The Monastery of San Placido Calonerò, also known as the Benedictine abbey and monastery of Santa Maria Maddalena di Valle Giosafat and San Placido di Calonerò , was a place of worship in the city of Messina, while today it is used for civilian uses.
The term "Calonerò" derives from the Byzantine Greek "καλό", "good", and "νερόν", "water", is believed to be due to the presence of the Schiavo stream which allowed the irrigation use for the whole community.
The original structure of the monastery is a quadrangular fourteenth-century castle, owned by the Vinciguerra di Aragona. The structure was donated to the Benedictine monks in 1376. It was then that it underwent the transformation into a Gothic-Catalan monastery. Following the discovery of the remains of San Placido in 1589, the monastery was renovated and assumed its current configuration with the presence of two cloisters with porticoes in the late Renaissance style.
Each of the two cloisters has 28 columns surmounted by an Ionic capital, Tuscan trabeations and round arches that act as a shutter to the vellette of the roof vault, which rest on wall capitals. The northern cloister has a temple, located in the center, with an octagonal plan with a dome resting on Ionic columns. In the southern cloister there is the entrance portal to the refectory. Above is the bust of Charles V, who stayed there from 19 to 21 October 1535, returning from the battle of Tunis, before making his triumphal entry into the city. In the architrave you can read the Latin inscription commemorating the visit of the emperor made to engrave by the abbot Sturniolo, a stay that was however marred by the sudden death of his butler struck by lightning during a storm.
The imposing structure it houses a small jewel, which is a cuba of Byzantine origin, which was reused by the monks, restored in 1582 and decorated with stuccoes belonging to the Baroque period and sixteenth-century frescoes.
