What to see in Abbadia San Salvatore, itinerary including the main places of interest, including the abbey, Monte Amiata and other villages in the surrounding area.
Tourist information
On the eastern side of Monte Amiata, rich in chestnut and beech woods, there is the medieval village of Abbadia San Salvatore, in the province of Siena.
The town takes its name from the nearby Abbey, dating back to the mid-eighth century, a very interesting complex founded by the Lombard nobleman Erfo del Friuli, as a place of worship and convent for the monks, as well as a strategic location to control the Via Francigena which passed through the underlying Valle Del Paglia.
In this monastery many pilgrims stopped who during the Middle Ages came and went from Rome.
In the abbey, which exercised a great influence in the area for over a thousand years, various religious orders alternated, first the Benedictines, then the Cistercians, then the Camaldolese, finally returned to the Cistercians in 1939.
Several religious orders alternated, first the Benedictines, then the Cistercians, then the Camaldolese, finally returned to the Cistercians in 1939.
The architectural complex has a very suggestive crypt dating back to the time of its foundation, characterized by an alternation of columns with arches and cross vaults.
The Abbey Museum houses a copy of the Amiantina Bible, the original is in the Laurentian Medicean Library.
The codex was written between the end of the seventh century and the beginning of the eighth century by at least eight copyists and reached the Monastery of the Most Holy Savior on Mount Amiata between the end of the ninth and the beginning of the tenth century.
The church, which has perfectly preserved the structure dating back to the year 1000, when it was rebuilt, is characterized by a narrow facade inserted between two bell towers, one of which has never been completed.
Inside a single nave, the raised presbytery area immediately stands out, with chapels frescoed by Nasini, while on the right there is a remarkable twelfth-century Crucifix and, in the apse, a beautiful choir of the fifteenth century.
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The original crypt still present is of great importance, where elegant columns with capitals of different workmanship can be admired.
What see
Leaving the door of the Abbey you enter the ancient village, called la Castellina and dating back to the period between the ninth and tenth centuries, where the people who worked at the monastery lived.
In it it is possible to observe valid examples of medieval and Renaissance houses.
The village, which has retained its original appearance as a whole, was enlarged between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries with the part called Castello then, between the end of the thirteenth century and the beginning of the fourteenth century, it developed further out of the circle of walls, with the Rione del Borgo.
During the autumn period, in two weekends of the month of October, the traditional Autumn Festival of Abbadia San Salvatore takes place, which has as its main protagonist the chestnut, an event that affects the whole medieval village, with open cellars and banquets of craftsmanship.
On the occasion of the Christmas holidays, the Christmas markets are held, in an atmosphere made even more suggestive by the Christmas torches, a millenary tradition that illuminates the streets of the center during the Christmas night, with large stacks of wood burning along the streets of the ancient village, all enlivened by Christmas carols and the opportunity to taste typical products.
Do not forget that this village is located in an area that offers the possibility of making very interesting naturalistic excursions on Monte Amiata, it is also possible to appreciate the typical Tuscan landscape and easily reach the magnificent villages of Pienza, Montalcino, Radicofani, with its Rocca , Santa Fiora, the Abbey of Sant'Antimo and Bagno a Vignoni, whose thermal waters have been known since ancient times.
