Italy reopens abbey near Rome after ousting Steve Bannon’s right-wing academy

Rome: Italian culture ministry evicts Dignitatis Humanae Institute from abbey near Rome. A mediaeval monastery south of Rome, where a right-wing political academy close to Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon had planned to establish a base, has reopened to the public.

The Italian state is once again in full control of the 13th-century Certosa di Trisulti, located amid woods in the Frosinone countryside, after the culture ministry succeeded in evicting the ultra-right Dignitatis Humanae Institute (DHI) from the ancient site earlier this year.

The former Carthusian monastery, which was consecrated in 1211 and is a listed national monument, was granted to the conservative think-tank under a 19-year concession in 2017.

However a year later the culture ministry revoked the lease, citing violations of various contractual obligations, as the media published stories about Bannon’s proposed “gladiator school”, or “Academy for the Judeo-Christian West’, where recruits would be trained in politics, philosophy and theology.

A protracted legal battle ensued. In March Italy’s Consiglio di Stato public administrative court ruled in favour of the culture ministry and ordered the DHI to vacate the premises by the end of July.

Today the 800-year-old abbey in Collepardo reopens to visitors, free of charge, thanks to collaboration between the Lazio region and the culture ministry.

The monastery will be open every day, and Sunday Mass will once more be celebrated for the local community in the church of S. Bartolomeo.

Guided tours will be available on request at weekends, with visitors able to see the abbey’s library, cloister, frescoes, church and 18th-century pharmacy.