A magical place in the Tuscan countryside
Country: Italy
Region: Tuscany
My Rating: 8/10
Website: Municipality of Chiusdino
E-mail: abbaziasangalgano@gmail.com
The Abbey of Saint Galgano is an ancient roofless gothic church lost in the countryside of Siena; the abbey was a Cistercian Monastery found in the valley of the river Merse between the towns of Chiusdino and Monticiano, in the province of Siena.
The Cistercian order was a religious order founded in the Citeaux abbey (Cistercium in latin) at the end of the 11th century. The Cistercian monasteries and churches, owing to their pure style, may be counted among the most beautiful relics of the Middle Ages.
Presently, the roofless walls of the Gothic style 13th-century Abbey church still stand. Nearby are the chapel or Eremo or Rotonda di Montesiepi (1185), the tomb of Saint Galgano and the purported site of his death in 1181, the sword in the stone said to have been planted in the ground by Galgano and a chapel with frescoes by Ambrogio Lorenzetti.
Arnolfo di Cambio, at the time aged 14, was among the workers who built the abbey.
The abbey is quite close to a vacation home that my family has owned for decades and every now and then I come back to visit the abbey. Every time the view of this wounded colossus laying in the tuscan country amazes me. The frame of the surrounding hills makes for continuous variations of light and landscape; it is almost as if the abbey had its own personality and changed its face as the seasons change: the autumn fog, a cloudy summer sky, a sunset ... these are all different conditions and seasons in which the abbey deserves a visit.
Just as it happens (to me) in front of the ruins of Greek and Roman monuments, contemplating the abbey and the evidence of the passage of time on its surface, it comes natural to think about how many lives, events, eras, historical periods the abbey has seen pass in front of its walls of stone.
San Galgano was some sort of italian King Arthur; his legend (dating back to 12th century) is thought by some to have been the inspiration for Excalibur.
According to the legend, Galgano was a knight whose conversion began with a vision of the Archangel Michael telling Galgano to reach the hill of Montesiepi; when Galgano got to the base of the hill, the voice told him to climb the hill, and the vision faded. When San Galgano reached the top of Montesiepi, the voice spoke again, commanding him to renounce all his worldly desires. San Galgano, however, objected, saying that this is as easy as splitting stones with a sword. To prove his point, San Galgano drew his sword, and thrust it into a stone. To the saint’s great amazement, the weapon went through the stone like a hot knife through butter, and has been stuck in the stone ever since.
For more info about San Galgano and his sword in the stone, see
Andrei Tarkovsky's shot here some scenes of his movie Nostalghia.
For the Italian tourists: did you know that just a few miles from here is the real Mulino Bianco? Its name is "Mulino delle pile" and it's only five minutes away from the abbey.
Travel tips
Coming to San Galgano from the nearest town, Siena, takes half an hour by car. The visit to the abbey and the Eremo of Montesiepi takes from one to two hours, depending on your pace. Since the abbey is roofless, try to avoid rainy days; aside from that, there is not a better season or time of day to visit the abbey.
Here you can find the opening hours and the ticket prices.
The visit to the abbey and the nearby church of Montesiepi takes a couple of hour.
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