Discover the Legend and Beauty of San Galgano: A Visitor’s Guide to the Abbey
The Abbey of San Galgano is without a doubt one of the architectural marvels found within a 30-kilometer radius of Siena.
The History of the Abbey
The ecclesiastical structure, or what remains of it after centuries of deterioration, is dedicated to San Galgano: the cult of this enigmatic personality proves to be very strong, as he chose to convert after a turbulent life and opt for a hermitic retreat in 1180, a year before his death, according to myths and legends handed down over the many years.
When he became a Christian, he drove his sword, which is now kept in a Plexiglas case, into the ground on the hill of Montesiepi in the shape of a cross. The appearance of parallels to King Arthur’s epic, the knights of the Round Table, and the sword in the stone is unavoidable.
The Cistercian garrison, within whose borders a small chapel was erected in the early days, then a real monastery, and finally the great Abbey of San Galgano, an influential and highly respected institution already in the XIII century, the religious hub of Tuscany deserving of multiple privileges granted by emperors Henry VI, Otto IV, Frederick II, and even Pope Innocent III.
However, in the 1300s, the Cistercian order’s absolute pride became the target of robberies and repeated assaults by gangs roaming the area, which greatly weakened the cohesive group of monks, decimated them, and forced them to entrust the management of the monastery complex to commendatory abbots, accomplices in senseless operations of impoverishment and an unstoppable degradation and indifferent to any attempt at restoration.
The current lack of the roof, a lead cover that was even sold, is due to this terrible management. The stained glass windows gradually shattered, the vaults collapsed, and the bell tower fell, so that adverse fate led the church to be deconsecrated and abandoned at the end of the eighteenth century.
After a century of making plans for restoration, Gino Chierici stepped in to save what was left in 1924. What we see today is what was done to save what was left, without any implementation or integration.
What to see at the Abbey of San Galgano
So, it looks like a place of worship that is surrounded by walls but is empty on the inside. It has an apse that faces east and a gabled front that was never able to fit the portico that the monks planned but did not build. In its Latin cross plan, the abbey has a clear redundancy of round arches and a careful alternation of single, double, and triple lancet windows.
There is no longer any trace of the cloister, the heart of abbey life, with the exception of a faint trace that at least follows its course. The sacristy, covered by two large cross vaults, is the only room capable of revealing a worn hint of frescoes, absent instead in the chapter house and in the scriptorium, and was in the past used as a space for meticulous copying of the manuscripts by the monks, who could then use the other rooms, the dormitory, the kitchens, the latrines, the refectory and the warehouses for food supplies.
The abbey is an “empty exceptionality” that strikes visitors both for the lack of coverage and for the exposed ground without any flooring. In the warm seasons, even the grass sprouts, and everything takes on a truly picturesque look, bordering on the grotesque.
The media have identified it as an ideal location for their productions; in fact, the films “Nostalghia” (Andrej Tarkovskij, 1983), “The English Patient” (Anthony Minghella, 1996), and the finale of “The Rest of the Warrior” were set here. (Roger Vadim, 1962), as well as the video clip “La casa del Sole” by the Poohs and the films “Sole a catinelle” by Checco Zalone and “The girl of Lilac” by Flavio Mogherini.
In the great Abbey of San Galgano, it is possible to get married, but in a civil ceremony (remember that it is deconsecrated), as did Formula 1 driver Kimi Raikkonen and his wife Minttu Virtanen, in a certainly unforgettable wedding.
Useful information
Where: San Galgano-Chisdino (SI) Visiting hours: every day from November to March from 9.00 to 17.30, April, May and October from 9.00 to 18.00, June and September from 9.00 to 19.00, July and August from 9.00 at 20.00
