The Abbazia di Sant’Antimo is a 12th-century abbey church set in a valley of olive groves and cypresses near the hamlet of Castelnuovo dell’Abate, about 10 kilometres south of Montalcino. Olivetan Benedictine monks live and pray here, and their chanting of the liturgical hours fills the nave with a sound that has echoed through this space for centuries.
The Legend of Charlemagne
According to tradition, Charlemagne’s plague-stricken army was cured here in 781 AD by an infusion of carlina herb, following a dream in which an angel revealed the remedy. The emperor vowed to found an abbey in thanksgiving. What is documented is that his son Louis the Pious issued a charter in 814 granting the monastery imperial protection. The monks’ Farmacia Monastica still sells an amaro made from carlina — the legendary herb.
The Building
The present church dates from 1118, built in pale travertine and creamy alabaster. The plan is a Latin cross with an ambulatory — a French Romanesque feature almost unique in Tuscany, suggesting the influence of pilgrimage-route churches along the Via Francigena. The nave columns are topped with carved capitals, including a celebrated Daniel in the Lions’ Den attributed to the Master of Cabestany — the anonymous Romanesque sculptor whose work is found along the pilgrimage routes from Catalonia to Tuscany.
Gregorian Chant
The monks chant the liturgical hours throughout the day. Sunday Mass with Gregorian chant is at 11am. The acoustics of the travertine nave were designed for this — a single voice fills the entire space.
On our tour
On the final day of the Val d’Orcia tour, after Castiglione d’Orcia, our guide Marta brings the group to Sant’Antimo.
