San Galgano Abbey, Siena surroundings

The San Galgano Monastery is a spectacle that leaves breathless. We know, it is said about a lot of monuments, but for San Galgano is more true than others. Try to imagine a Basilica with Latin cross plan, three naves, 72 meters in length and 21 meters wide, with the intact external walls but… without roof, so this Abbey, that was built in the XII century, is still there in spite of the time passes but it has lost its cover. As we said it was built in 1218, nut during the XIV century it reached its moment splendour thanks to the immunity and the royal privilege. After the richness the decadence came, and the Abbey was abandoned, even if it remains majestic. Very near, on the hill of Montesiepi, there’s the sword in the stone knocked in by Galgano Guidotti, a violent and arrogant nobleman who had a suddenly religious conversion and left his sword there as a symbolic renounce to the violence and to create a cross to pray. There are a lot of analogies between San Galgano and Gawain (Gauen), one of King Arthur’s knights. Maybe San Galgano was one of the knights… and maybe this is the mythic sword in the stone…