"One of the most appealing Italian churches of the period (Romanesque) is the Abbey of Pomposa, begun in the late ninth century on marshy land 50 miles southeast of Ferrara. Becoming popular with local dignitaries—including the Benedictine monk and musical reformer Guido d'Arezzo—the church was extended some 26 feet in the eleventh and twelfth centuries."

"The interior of the three-aisle abbey is architecturally simple, with planar, almost shaved stone wall...topped by a wood-truss roof. The raised sanctuary level in the apse is the only structural accent. This purposeful simplicity provides the perfect background for the extraordinary frescoes that cover almost all available wall space. Painted in the 1350s by Iacopo da Bologna, they combine medieval primitiveness with Byzantine overtones— accents from nearby Ravenna. The walls depict Old and New Testament scenes; the apse shows Christ with the Blessed."

— G. E. Kidder Smith. Looking at Architecture. p44.