Subiaco (Lazio)

Subiaco is a town and comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome, in Lazio, central Italy. It is a tourist and religious resort thanks to its sacred grotto (Sacro Speco), in the medieval St Benedict's Abbey, and for the Abbey of Santa Scolastica. At a time when several German monks had been assigned to the monastery, German printers established a printing press in the town. They printed the first books in Italy in the late 15th century. In addition to the two abbeys, including Abbey of Santa Scolastica, also noteworthy are: Rocca Abbaziale ("Abbots castle"), a massive medieval edifice largely rebuilt in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Church of Saint Francis (1327), holding notable paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries, the medieval St. Francis' bridge, a fortified bridge featuring a span of 37m, and the neo-classical churches of Sant'Andrea and Santa Maria della Valle.