Destinations

San Galgano

In 1180 Galgano Guidotti built a church in Montesiepi. The structure of the church is very original, singular in the Romanesque context of Siena. The interior is striking because of the singular vault and because in the center of the room is the rock in which Saint Galgano thrust his sword. Attached to the church is the 14th-century chapel with frescoes attributed to Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Fifty years later, further down the valley, the abbey named after St. Galgano was built by the Cistercians. The earliest example of Gothic architecture in Tuscany and one of the most evocative places in the Sienese countryside. The skeleton of the abbey remains, testifying to the power and wealth of the monastic community. A ruin completely immersed in the contrasting colors of the sky and the surrounding nature, a vision of solitary and dramatic beauty.