The Abbey of Sant'Antimo, it, Abbazia di Sant'Antimo, is a former Benedictine monastery located in

Castelnuovo dell'Abate Castelnuovo dell'Abate is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Montalcino, province of Siena. At the time of the 2001 census its population was 236.comune of

Montalcino Montalcino is a hill town and ''comune'' in the province of Siena, Tuscany, central Italy. The town is located to the west of Pienza, close to the Crete Senesi in Val d'Orcia. It is from Siena, from Florence and from Pisa. Monte Amiata is loc ...

, Tuscany, central Italy. It is approximately 10 km from Montalcino about 9 km from the Via Francigena, the pilgrim route to Rome. After many years of disuse, the abbey was reoccupied in 1992 by a small community of

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

Canons Regular. Since January 2016, the occupants are a community of monks of the Olivetan Benedictine order. A tributary of the river

Orcia The Val d'Orcia or Valdorcia () is a region of Tuscany, central Italy, which extends from the hills south of Siena to Monte Amiata. Its gentle, cultivated hills are occasionally broken by gullies and by picturesque towns and villages such as Pie ...

, the Starcia, runs near the abbey.

The name

The name of the abbey may refer to Saint Anthimus of Rome, whose relics were supposedly moved here during the late 8th century.Adriano Peroni, Grazia Tucci, ''Nuove ricerche su Sant'Antimo'', Alinea Editrice, 2008

History

Abbey of Sant'Antimo near Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy

The origins of the abbey are obscure. Archeological investigation of the site is incomplete, but has yielded artifacts from

Late Classical Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

times. The foundation of the original Benedictine monastery dates to the time of Charlemagne. The various accounts of Charlemagne founding the abbey are without direct historical foundation; they first appear in a document of the emperor Henry III from 1051. The earliest document relating to the abbey is a land grant of Louis the Pious dated December 813, now in the Archivio di Stato of Siena. The abbot received full temporal powers in an imperial document of about 952. Following a bequest of

Bernardo degli Ardengheschi Bernardo is a given name and less frequently an Italian, Portuguese and Spanish surname. Possibly from the Germanic "Bernhard". Given name People * Bernardo the Japanese (died 1557), early Japanese Christian convert and disciple of Saint Fran ...

, construction of the present church was begun before 1118, a date which is inscribed on the altar step and on a column to the left of it. Parts of the earlier structure remain visible in the crypt and in the so-called Cappella Carolingia, or Carolingian chapel. This was the period of greatest power of the abbey, which had authority over 38 churches, from Pisa to Grosseto, and control of about 1000 ''mansi'', or farm estates, throughout Tuscany. The most important possession of the abbey was the castle of

, which was the residence of the abbot. In the mid-12th century, halted in its expansion northwards by Florence, Siena moved its attention to Montalcino. In 1145 the monks were forced to cede the castle of Radicofani the Sienese. In 1189 Pope Clement III placed the '' pieve'' of Montalcino under the

bishop of Siena A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

. Filippo Malavolti, '' podestà'' of Siena, attacked and partly destroyed Montalcino in 1200. An agreement of 1212 stated that the abbey had to hand over a quarter of its territories to Siena, including Montalcino. In 1291 Pope Nicholas IV ordered the union of the abbey with the Guglielmites, a reformed branch of the Benedectines, in order to give back strength to the abbey. However, after another period of decay in the 15th century, Pope Pius II annexed St. Antimus to the new diocese of Montalcino- Pienza (1462), whose bishop was Pius' nephew. The abbey decayed to the point that in the 19th century it was used as stable. In the 1870s the Italian state restored it. In 1992 the abbey became again an active monastery with the arrival of a new religious community of Canons Regular of the Order of Premontre.

Architecture

Of the Carolingian edifice, the apse (called ''Cappella Carolingia'') and the portal, richly decorated with animal and vegetable motifs, are visible. The Carolingian chapel has frescoes by

Giovanni d'Asciano Giovanni d'Asciano, a pupil of Barna da Siena, Barna of Siena, is said to have completed the frescoes left unfinished by that master at San Gimignano, Tuscany. At Asciano, his birthplace, there is a work by Giovanni, similar in style to the works ...

with stories of St. Benedict and currently acts as sacristy. Under the chapel is a crypt with a nave and two aisles divided by four columns. The ''Sala Capitolare'' (Capitular Hall) is decorated with a triple mullioned window with richly decorated capitals. Typically French in inspiration is the ambulatory with radial chapels. In Italy this scheme is known only in Santa Trinità of Venosa and the Cathedrals of Acerenza and

Aversa Aversa () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Caserta in Campania, southern Italy, about 24 km north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the ''Agro Aversano'', producing wine and cheese (famous for the typical bu ...

, all in southern Italy, and in Santa Maria of Piè di Chianti,

Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...

. The ambulatory housed the pilgrims to pray the ''Martyrium'', the place where the Saint's relic are placed. The aisles and the ambulatory are groin vaulted, while the nave has trusses. The nave, which is c. 20-m high, is divided into three sections: the huge arcades, the matronaeum and the ' (upper floor). Notable is the so-called capital of "Daniel in the lions' den", work of the French

Master of Cabestany The Master of Cabestany is the name given to an anonymous sculptor active in the second half of the 12th century. He was identified in the 1930s after the discovery of several pieces remarkable for their workmanship and their style; chief among t ...

. It shows Daniel praying between the hungry lions, and, on the other sides, the lions devouring the accusers. The outer walls are made of alabaster; one can shine a light against the walls and see the light translated/reflected back out to the eye.

References

External links

Adrian Fletcher’s Paradoxplace Sant’Antimo Photograph Pages
{{Authority control Monasteries in Tuscany 770s establishments 8th-century establishments in Italy Christian monasteries established in the 8th century 12th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Romanesque architecture in Tuscany Benedictine monasteries in Italy Roman Catholic churches in Montalcino

The name

History

Architecture

References

Further reading

External links