The Presidency of the National Committee for the Millennium Celebration of the foundation of the St. Nilo Abbey has approved a well constructed program of outstanding scientific importance to respectfully celebrate the event. The Presidency has operated on behalf of the Institutions that proposed its etablishment: the University of Rome - Tor Vergata, the commune of Grottaferrata, the National Association of the benefits of the South of Italy and also with the solid and constructive support of the Exarch Monastery in Grottaferrata.
The Presidency intended to bring out the different religious, artistic, literary and documentary expressions of the patrimony preserved in the abbatial complex, setting them in the wider context of the historical background of the Greek phone southern Italy and of the civilizations of the Mediterranean. Therefore the founder of the Abbey, St. Nilo of Rossano, is an emblematic figure because he best interpreted the eagerness of the X century to integrate the ethnic groups and cultures present in Byzantine Italy.

Roberto Pretagostini
President of the National Committee for the Millennium
Celebration of the foundation of St. Nilo’s Abbey in Grotaferrata