What is Chiusdino known for?

Galgano Guidotti drove his sword into a rock at Montesiepi on Christmas Day 1180; the blade is still embedded there. Thirteenth-century Cistercian church on the Merse valley floor, its roof gone since 1786, the walls and arches preserved open to the sky. Città del Miele member; the chestnut and acacia woods of the Merse valley feed the production of monofloral honeys.

Chiusdino is a comune in the province of Siena, Tuscany region of Italy, about 91 kilometers from Firenze.

Tuscany · Siena

Chiusdino

A medieval village at 564 meters in the Val di Merse where Galgano Guidotti plunged his sword into a rock in 1180 and the roofless Cistercian abbey grew up below.

564m

Elevation

91 km / 57 mi

Nearest hub (Firenze)

1,751

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Chiusdino sits at 564 meters on a metalliferous hill between the Val di Farma and the upper Merse, founded under Lombard rule between 568 and 569. Galgano Guidotti was born here around 1148, a wealthy knight who turned hermit. On Christmas Day 1180 he climbed Monte Siepi, drove his sword into a rock as a cross and lived as a hermit until his death the following year. Pope Lucius III canonized him in 1185. The round Cappella di Montesiepi was built over the sword, which is still embedded in the stone and has been dated by metallurgical analysis to the late twelfth century. Five kilometers north, between the 1220s and the 1280s, the Cistercians built the Abbazia di San Galgano: a Gothic French-school church the length of a cathedral. The roof collapsed in 1786 and was never rebuilt. The abbey stands roofless, the sky for a ceiling, on the floor of the Merse valley.

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Gallery

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Known for

Abbazia di San Galgano
Cistercian abbey built 1220s-1280s in French Gothic on the Merse valley floor, roofless since 1786, the largest open-air church in Italy.
Cappella di Montesiepi
Twelfth-century round chapel above the abbey, built over the sword Galgano drove into the rock on Christmas Day 1180.
Centro storico di Chiusdino
Medieval Lombard-foundation village at 564 meters, with the house of Galgano Guidotti and the Pieve di San Michele Arcangelo at its top.
Pieve di San Michele Arcangelo
Romanesque parish church holding a 1336 reliquary bust of San Galgano and a fourteenth-century panel of the saint by Ambrogio Lorenzetti's circle.
Colline Metallifere
Surrounding hills mined for iron and silver from Etruscan times into the twentieth century, now a UNESCO-recognized geo-mining park.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September through October are the months the Merse valley shows best: green or gold depending on the season, the abbey light coming in at low angle through the empty windows. Concerts and theater are staged inside the roofless church in summer evenings. July and August touch thirty-five degrees; the centro storico empties between four and seven in the afternoon. November through March is quiet. The abbey stays open all year but on rainy days there is nothing between the visitor and the weather. The cappella di Montesiepi keeps shorter winter hours. Honey festivals in Chiusdino run in September.