A Romanesque Abbey near Montalcino
In a pocket-size vale bounded by low green hills, the Cistercian abbey of Sant'Antimo (tel. 0577-835-659; www.antimo.it) rises amid olive groves. Its church is one of the most astoundingly intact Romanesque countryside temples left in Tuscany, but its monastery is mostly ruins. Since 1992, a handful of French monks have inhabited what's left, and the church interior echoes with their haunting Gregorian chant throughout the day. The first stone was supposedly laid on the order of Charlemagne in A.D. 781, but the current structure dates from 1118. Its amalgamated Lombard-French architecture has produced a building of singular beauty, with strong simple lines of pale yellow and white stone. The fabric of the walls is studded with recycled materials, some inscribed and many with fantastic medieval (and even a few Roman) reliefs. A cypress is challenging the 30m (98-ft.) bell tower to a height contest. One side of the campanile supports a medieval relief of the Madonna and Child, and the carvings of animals and geometric designs around the doors are worth study. Before going inside, walk around to the back; at the base of the apse is a small, round window through which you can glimpse a bit of the 9th-century crypt underneath, part of the original church.
The honey-colored travertine interior of the church, with its second-level women's gallery adapted from Byzantine models, is filled even on cloudy days with a warm, diffuse light. Two Lombard lions, now toothless with age, once flanked the entrance but have been moved inside. Several of the column capitals have intricate alabaster carvings. One on the right aisle tells the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den, and, like the other alabaster capitals and column bases here, glows as if lit from within when sunlight streams into the church. You can descend to the cramped crypt, where you'll find a Pietà fresco, and spend hours admiring the carvings -- a plethora of eagles and evangelists, sheep and medieval Christs -- throughout the church. Behind the high altar and its 13th-century wooden crucifix is an unusual three-apsed ambulatory that gets plenty of sun -- your best bet for seeing that luminous effect on the alabaster column bases and capitals. Ask the guy at the postcard desk "Posso vedere la sagrestia per piacere?" (poh-so ved-air-ay la sah-gres-tee-yah pair pee-ah-chair-ay) for a peek into the sacristy and its cartoonish 15th-century frescoes by Giovanni di Asciano on the Life of St. Benedict, interesting mainly for their earthy details and the animal extras that often seem wonderfully oblivious to the holy events happening around them. (One scene features a blatantly amorous pig couple.) Sant'Antimo is open to visitors Monday through Saturday from 10:30am to 12:30pm and 3 to 6:30pm, Sunday from 9:15 to 10:30am and 3 to 6pm. Admission is free.
