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In the hamlet of Acquacanina, not far from Lake Fiastra, there is the abbey of S. Maria in Rio Sacro.
The construction of the abbey, which was initially called San Salvatore di Rio Sacro, due to a wooden crucifix that was inside, dates back to around 985, thanks to the hands of the Benedictine monks who built it in this valley of the Rio Sacro.
Thanks to the presence of the monastery, the valley experienced a period of great prosperity both from a material and a spiritual point of view, which failed at the beginning of the sixteenth century when the Commendatory Abbots to whom it was entrusted squandered the patrimony forcing the monks to move elsewhere.
The new convent became the Church of "Santa Maria de Merigu", one of the churches that depended on the monastery, and the name was changed to the current name of Abbey of Santa Maria di Rio Sacro. In it were placed all the furnishings that were in the previous one, including the crucifix of San Salvatore venerated and loved by all the inhabitants of the town who still go to the place today to venerate it.
Read on by clicking the following link: https://www.turismo.marche.it/it-it/Cosa-vedere/Attrazioni/Abbazia-di-S-Maria-in-Rio-Sacro/2110