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Tuscany Historic Sites

Inside the Monte Oliveto Monastery Church

Monte Oliveto Maggiore
The Olivetian Benedictines built the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiorenear to the battlement walls of Buonconvento. The dark green of the cypress trees contrast beautifully with the terracotta brickwork of the monastery. The Abbey holds and protects works of art such as the Frescoes by Signorelli and Sodoma, and in thelibrary, the work of Fra’ Giovanni from Verona with its valuable incunubula. It may be possible to meet the Abbott who may honour you with an invitation to taste the delicate woodland essence of the exquisite For a liquer.

San Galgano
San Galgano has a 12th century Romanesque chapel with concentric brickwork overhead and its legend of a repentant knight who thrust his sword into the rock. Many patient Cistercian monks have laboured, often to the point of exhaustion, in this majestic structure. In the adjoining monastery there are concerts given by students on summer courses run by the Chigiana Academy.

Badia a Isola
From the windows in the towers of Monteriggioni you an see the plain below and, to the west, a group of buildings dominated by a church. In this place from the year 1000, Cistercian monks have worked at draining the land so that they could build on it. Prior to this it used to be an island in the centre of placid lakes and surrounded by hills.