Certainly visiting San Galgano will allow you to have an unforgettable experience. In fact, in this place you will be able to get to know both what is called the great abbey, i.e. a huge church with the particularity of not having a roof and then the hermitage of Monte Siepi in which, according to what legend says, the saint (San Galgano precisely) retired as a hermit and, precisely to demonstrate this choice as well as the renunciation of war and a symbol of peace, stuck his sword in the stone and where it currently is. A study done in 2001 would show that the weapon dates back to the time of San Galgano.
How to organize a visit to San Galgano?
We advise you to start with a walk to admire the characteristic avenue of cypresses. From the end of the avenue, follow the signs for the entrance where you can obtain your entrance ticket. Proceed the visit through the Abbey. The Gothic-style building will truly leave you speechless in amazement. The construction of the Abbey dates back to between 1218 and 1288 by the Cistercian monks who used to establish monasteries and churches near watercourses (in this case the Merse river) and not far from major communication routes, such as the Maremma.
This monastic complex was abandoned during the famine of 1329 and the plague in 1348. At the end of the fifteenth century the monks moved permanently to Siena.
After having contemplated the Abbey and taken the necessary photos, continue along the path traced towards the Hermitage of Monte Siepi in which there is a chapel built in memory of the death of San Galgano in 1181 in the center of which you can see a large stone in which the saint stuck his sword, still visible.
How to reach the place?
Reaching the San Galgano Abbey is simple since it is located only 35 km south of Siena, in the Val di Merse. It can be reached by car in about an hour. From Siena it is necessary to head for 20 kilometers towards Rosia, take a right turn and follow the signs for the Abbey.
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