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The interior of San Galgano Abbey is seen from its western end. photo by Spike –

Top 10 Facts about Abbey of San Galgano

The Abbey of San Galgano is one of the most visited places in Tuscany. It has its fascination and visitors are taken back to the time of knights, ladies and lords.

Getting there causes the sensation to travel back in time, to the mysterious middle ages, rich in legends that influence many people’s imagination. The san Galgano Abbey along with the Hermitage of Montesiepi, rises in the valley of the river Merse, in the provinces of Siena to the border with the one of Grosseto between the two medieval villages of Chiusdino and Monticiano.

The Abbey of San Galgano near Siena is generally considered to be one of the most important religious monuments in Tuscany and certainly among the greatest of the gothic-style monasteries in Italy. Here are the top 10 facts about the Abbey of San Galgano

1. The San Galgano Abbey was built in the 13th century

San Galgano abbey, Siena photo by Superchilum –

By the 12th century, the Cistercian monks and their ruling abbots occupied a central position in politics and this part of Italy. As a consequence, the abbey was built – a process that took much of the 13th century (from 1218) to be completed.

At the end of the 13th century, the monastery was very extensive with a large number of residents but this position of power was not to last long.

2. The San Galgano Abbey was Tuscany’s first pure gothic church

The Abbey of San Galgano in Tuscany, Italy. photo by Spike –

The San Galgano Abbey was Tuscany’s first pure gothic church, and it was later used as the model for the cathedral of Siena. The abbey is built according to the typical Cistercian plan based on a Latin cross with three aisles, rich in carved capitals and rose windows, with a cloister, halls and a typical bell tower.

3. It traces its origin from a chapel built in 1180

Historical view of the de:Abbazia San Galgano photo by Infostand San Galgano –

The abbey originated from a chapel built in 1180 by Galgano Guidotti (San Galgano), a nobleman knight native of Chiusdino, that here passed into hermitage in the last year of his life.

After the death of the saint, the Cistercians built in his honour a monastery. In the 13th century, the monastery of San Galgano became the more important and powerful of the zone, possessing an immense territory around the abbey.

4. It is roofless

The Abbey of San Galgano is a huge building aimed to celebrate the cult of San Galgano. After a period of great splendour, the decay began. The roof collapsed in 1768 leaving the abbey roofless.

5. It has intertwined history with a sword

After a life of war, dissolution and lechery, Saint Galgano had a vision of God. He then decided to lead a religious life and withdrew into a hermitage at Montesiepi. Since there was no cross there, he struck his sword in a stone as a symbol of peace. And the sword remains since 1170.

In 2001, an examination was carried out on the sword. It dates back to the XII century but remains impossible to take out hence still logged in a gap of the stone. Only after some acts of vandalism it was cemented and covered with Plexiglas.

6. San Galgano abbey’s decline began in the 14th century

Equestrian monument to condottiere John Hawkwood, detail. Fresco in the nave of the Duomo of Florence, Italy. photo by Paolo Uccello –

The Abbey of San Galgano’s decline began in the 1st century when it was plundered two times by the mercenary Giovanni Acuto (John Harkood, English soldier, to which Florence, as reward for his services, granted to him as residence, the castle of Montecchio Vesponi) and this decline was accentuated in the 15th and 16th century.

The monastery builds there grew rapidly but during the fourteenth century began its period of decadence. Various events including famine, the black plague of 1348 and lootings led to the beginning of the decadence.

7. It’s bell tower fell struck by lightning in 1786

During the rapid decadence of the first half of the 15th century in 1550, only five monks were in the abbey and at the beginning of the 17th century, only one old and poor monk still lived between its walls, already in ruin.

On the 6th of January 1786, the bell tower fell struck by lightning, with its 36 meters high, collapsed sweeping up a great part of the vaulted roof of the church.

8. The great abbey was abandoned in 1789

In 1789, the Abbey of San Galgano was abandoned thus becoming an enormous quarry of stones and columns for all the buildings of the zone. Fortunately, from the beginning of this century, many jobs of restoration and maintenance have been undertaken.

Today the ruins of Saint Galgano by now without more traces of the roof are one of the most visited medieval monuments in Tuscany.

9. The Abbey’s Rotonda chapel was restored in 1924

The Abbey stayed impoverished and kept decaying for nearly four centuries. Some restorations occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries but the church remained a ruin.

Its greater particularity is the Rotonda chapel which encloses the tomb of the Saint, the famous rock with the sword was restored in 1924 and retains its peculiar medieval shape, similar to earlier ancient Roman Mausoleums.

10. San Galgano is an architectural complex with numerous attractions

San Galgano abbey (Siena), Italy. photo by Quinok –

The monastery of San Galgano is an amazing building, considered to be one of the most prestigious examples of Italian Gothic – Cistercian architecture. There is the nearby Montesiepi hermitage with its mysterious Excalibur, the sword that Saint Galgano plunged into a rock when he decided to abandon life as a wealthy gentleman.

The original nucleus of the Monastic complex Cistercian of Saint Galgano was built in Roman style as the Mausoleum of the saint between 1182 and 1185. All these complexes are a true depiction of architectural prowess in the construction of the Abbey.