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ABBADIA SAN SALVATORE
Located more or less at the same height as Radicofani, Abbad
ia San Salvatore offers a well-preserved historical centre and divided
into two parts, the castle and the medieval village. The oldest
part of the village is the northern part, which is the highest point
of the village, while the castle is located tot he south and further
down, the other part of the village built in the Middle Ages.
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The
old heart of Abbadia San Salvatore is the most imposing example of
a village which expanded around a monastery in the Amiata. The village
was built to defend the monastery and the castle was the first building
to be raised in the 12th century and all the other houses of the village
were built around it. The medieval village of Abbadia San Salvatore
is detached from the Abbey and features an enchanting atmosphere:
narrow stone paved streets, small windows with flowers on the balconies,
arches and stairways from which you reach the castle. In this area
you find the Chiesa di Santa Croce, which modern façade hides
the plant from the 13th century, the Palazzo del Podestà and
the Palazzo del Popolo. Two towers protect the castle of Abbadia San
Salvatore and the six remaining gates witness the existence of powerful
defensive walls.
Inside the Abbey you find a small museum of holy art, where
you can admire some precious items such as the so-called "Casula
di San Marco Papa", from the East and dated back to the 9th century.
Other important items of the museum of Abbadia San Salvatore are an
Irish box from the 8th century and a bust of San Marco going back
to 138 a.C. If you are interested in religious architecture you have
to visit the "new" part of Abbadia San Salvatore where you
find the churches Chiesa della Madonna del Castagno, built in the
16th century and decorated with several frescoes, and the suggestive
Chiesa di San Lorenzo, from the 13th century just outside the walls
of the castle.
A nice walk along the streets takes you from the village to
the top of the Amiata mountain. Here you can discover the Grotta dell'Arciere
(the Arciere Cave). In a small crack of the rock you find a small
black figure which seems to be a hunter with an arch, dated back to
between 5000 and 3000 b.C.
Near Abbadia San Salvatore, as around Radicofani and Castiglione d'Orcia,
you can see parts of the original paved Via Francigena, the important
strategic road which connected Tuscany with Lazio. |
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