ABBEY OF CHIARAVALLE Facade of the church dedicated to Santa Maria in the Cistercian monastic complex founded by San Bernardo di Chiaravalle in Roveniano; a place that at the time was a few kilometers south of Milan and now belongs to the outskirts of the city; in a marshy area then reclaimed by the monks. Built between 1150 and 1221; the church is one of the first examples of Gothic architecture in Italy; the facade; modified in the Baroque period; was restored to its original forms in 1926; with the exception of the white stone narthex which remained in the seventeenth-century form. Milan; 12th century