Monte Cassino war tour. The Abbey now

Monte Cassino War Tour. The Abbey now

Eighty-one years after the first bombing and destruction of the Abbey of Monte Cassino, the Abbey stands proudly once again. The bright white building has been completely rebuilt, following the two guiding principles imposed by Abbot Rea during reconstruction: “where it was and how it was.”

Many of the stones used are original and can be easily recognized by their chips and scars. The remaining stones, perfectly intact and pristine, are new—replacing those turned to dust during the bombing.

The abbey now between old decorations and new stones

Some corners of the Abbey remain entirely original and are easy to recognize. Embedded in the stones, you can still see remnants of munitions, and many statues lie shattered into pieces. The columns bear the scars of shell impacts, with visible dents and holes. The statues, now a weathered white, are marked with pockmarks from shrapnel. Even the main door of the basilica shows clear signs of damage from bombs and bullets.

Monte Cassino war tours the Abbey now. It is a true replica of the old one

The interior decorations of the church are reproductions of the originals. The paintings are not by Luca Giordano or the Neapolitan school, but were created about five years ago by Pietro Annigoni and other contemporary artists. The choir remains original, though it has undergone extensive restoration in Florence. The organ is brand new, boasting over 5,000 pipes.

In the monastery’s library, the monks once again house around 200,000 volumes, attracting researchers who study the ancient manuscripts. The cell of Saint Benedict still stands—the small room where the saint spent much of his life was spared from the bombing. While the structure remains original, its decorations today are modern.

The replica of Monte Cassino Abbey. The cript

The old decorations created by the Beuron School were lost in the 1944 bombing. However, under the main altar, you can still see some ancient walls that Saint Benedict would have seen when he first arrived at the top of the hill. These are the remains of the temple dedicated to Apollo, on which Benedict built his first church dedicated to Saint Martin. Since this church stood at the highest point of the hill, it was more vulnerable to the bombing and was destroyed more easily than other parts of the old monastery.

The importance of visiting Monte Cassino Abbey

Even if the monastery looks like a new copy of the old one, the atmosphere remains the same as in the past, helping people understand the futility of war. All Monte Cassino Battlefield tours I lead include a meaningful visit to the Abbey of Monte Cassino, where history comes alive through stories, images, and the sacred silence of this rebuilt monument.