The abbey was founded about the year 1001 and completed by 1026, in connection with a small church which housed the remains of St.
Mauro, a Benedictine monk who had been the Bishop of Cesena in the first half of the 10th century, and who had the custom of climbing the hill on which the abbey stands in order to pray. His
vita was written by the
Camaldolese monk and
cardinal,
Peter Damian. The abbey was confirmed in 1059 by a
papal bull of
Pope Nicholas II. The abbey benefited greatly when it received the Emperor
Frederic Barbarossa as a guest in 1177. The emperor gave the abbey his protection and bestowed a large grant of land to the community. In 1317,
Robert of Anjou donated two columns lying on the grounds of the monastery to the monastery of
Santa Chiara he and his wife were building in Naples. It is supposed that the columns were brought from Jerusalem by Barbarossa. In 1356, however, the ruler of Forlì,
Francesco II Ordelaffi, seized the monastery and used it as a barracks for his troops. The monks fled for over a year. Upon their return, they found the abbey in ruins. The reconstruction lasted for over a century. The earthquake of 1768 destroyed the dome of the basilica. The dome was reconstructed by
Pietro Carlo Borboni and decorated by
Giuseppe Milani between 1773 and 1774. The abbey was suppressed in 1796 during the occupation of Italy by the
French Revolutionary Army, under
Napoleon Bonaparte. The monks were expelled and the contents of the abbey were sold off. The basilica was transferred to the care of the
Conventual Franciscans until they too were suppressed in 1810, at which time it was administered by
secular clergy. After the restoration of Italian rule, the abbey grounds were returned in 1814 by their current owner, Count Semprini, to
Pope Pius VII, who was a native of the city. The pope re-established the abbey in 1819 and made it a part of the
Congregation of Santa Giustina, part of a reform movement of monastic life which was headquartered in the
Abbey of Santa Giustina in
Padua. The abbey was again suppressed in 1866. The monks were not able to return to resume their lives until 1874. ==Ex-voto==