Hic studet atque legit monachorum cetus et orat. Forma e funzione del chiostro nello spazio del monastero dalle origini a Cluny

The presence of the cloister in medieval monasteries is relatively late and, until the central Middle Ages, geographically limited to Central Europe. The analysis of material evidences attested until the 8th century the prevalence of settlement with multiple chapels scattered inside the enclosure alongside the more “orderly” type of monastery with the church and one or two residential wings arranged around a courtyard. From the 8th century begin to appear the first cloisters, but only in Central Europe, while the Mediterranean Europe delays even a few centuries. Starting from the 9th century the cloister spreads in the territories of the Empire, even in conjunction with the dissemination of the regula Benedicti,followed the reform of Benedict of Aniane. The cloister allowed a more rational layout of the buildings necessary for community life and ensured the total isolation of the monks. From the year 1000 and from the Cluny of Odilone's time, the monastery organized around the cloister lived a phase of strong experimentation, particularly with regard to the distribution of residential areas around the galleries. From the time of Cluny, the consecration of this type of setting can be reconstructed even through the different versions of the Consuetudines cluniacenses, that place in the cloister a multitude of activities and moments typical of the regular life.