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Badia a Coltibuono

Discover Badia a Coltibuono

Last updated on November 3, 2026

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Introduction

The abbazia di San Lorenzo a Coltibuono, universally called the badia a Coltibuono, is a former abbey turned villa in the comune of Gaiole in Chianti, in the province of Siena, at the frazione of Badia Coltibuono north-east of the capoluogo.

It was founded in 1049 by the Florentine Firidolfi family and, a couple of years later, given to San Giovanni Gualberto, the founder of the Vallombrosan order. A church is documented on the site from the middle of the tenth century. What is certain is that by 1115 the complex was already in Vallombrosan hands, attested by a bull of Pope Paschal II addressed to Adimaro abbot of Vallombrosa and by an act of Conrad of Scheiern, marquis of Tuscany, dated 1122.

Donations made it one of the richest houses in the region. At its height it controlled the badia Ardenga, the abbey of Spineta and the monastery of San Jacopo in Siena. From 1239 it stood under the protection of the Republic of Florence, and its revenues were large enough that it was given in commendam, along with the badia a Passignano, to cardinal Giovanni de' Medici — the future Pope Leo X.

Today it belongs to the Stucchi Prinetti family, who make organic wine and oil under the abbey's own label and run an agriturismo, cookery courses and tastings. The estate is directed by Emanuela and Roberto Stucchi Prinetti, two of the four children of Pietro and of Lorenza, born de' Medici, a well-known cookery writer.

Architecture

The church obeys its order. The plan is a Latin cross of the type typical of Vallombrosan churches: a single rectangular nave ending in a semicircular apse, with a dome raised over the crossing of nave and transept.

The dome is housed in a stepped tiburio. A quadrilateral tiburio encloses it, and its covering is built in riseghe — receding steps — which give the whole structure the form of a pagoda. It is the one roof in the Chianti that reads as exotic without being so.

Two of the three vaults are honest and one is not. The barrel vaults of the transept are original; the nave is covered by an eighteenth-century false vault, frescoed and stuccoed to late-Baroque taste. The difference is visible from the floor.

The wall faces grade by importance. The nave is built in modest river cobbles; the transept, the apse and the bell tower are in filaretto of alberese, the squared courses of grey-white limestone used for everything that mattered in the Chianti.

The campanile, begun in 1160, is out of scale with its church. It is massive, pierced at the top by four large single-light windows, and its grandiose dimensions marry the tiburio and apse perfectly while refusing to agree with the small longitudinal body of the church, or with the facade and its modest porch continuing down the left flank.

The monastery is a nineteenth-century house with its bones showing. The complex was turned into a country residence, but the cloister and the refectory remain legible, in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century forms they had reached before the conversion.

The short history

Founded 1049, Vallombrosan by 1115, held by the future Leo X, suppressed by Napoleonic decree in 1810 — then raffled, defrauded and sold to a Polish prince.

Read the full historical timeline guide →

How it was built and evolved over time

It was built in the order of its own priorities. The liturgically important parts — transept, apse, bell tower — were faced in filaretto di alberese, carefully squared courses; the nave made do with river cobbles of modest workmanship. The material grades downward as you walk towards the door.

The tiburio solves a roofing problem by stepping. Rather than carry a drum, the dome is boxed into a quadrilateral tiburio whose covering is laid in receding riseghe, each course set back from the one below — the technique that produces the pagoda profile.

The bell tower was a long project begun in 1160, and its scale implies a church never finished to match; the four large single-light openings at the top are what lighten so much masonry.

The eighteenth century rebuilt the ceiling without rebuilding the roof. The nave's covering is a false vault — a lightweight shell hung beneath the real structure — and it is that shell which carries the frescoes and stuccoes. It is why the nave looks Baroque and the transept looks Romanesque in the same building.

The garden was engineered as much as planted. The hortus conclusus layout is held by box hedges set to a geometry, with its central rectangular basin and all its path paving cut in pietra serena; aromatic and officinal plants fill the compartments and vine pergolas shade the outer walks.

Even the forest is construction. The silver-fir woods surrounding the property are the result of the monks' reforestation, relaunched in the nineteenth century. The wooded skyline above Gaiole is a monastic work in progress nine centuries old.

Frequently asked questions

Is it still a monastery?

No. It was suppressed and sold following the decree of 29 September 1810 that expelled religious from all monasteries; the buildings became a farm and the church a parish church. It is now a private wine and oil estate.

How old is it?

The abbey was founded in 1049 by the Florentine Firidolfi, on a site where a church is documented from the mid-tenth century, and was Vallombrosan by 1115. The bell tower was begun in 1160.

Can I just walk in?

No general opening hours are published. Access to the abbey, cellars, cloister and garden is through the estate's booked visits, from 30 euro for an hour; the visit that covers all four is Sapori di Coltibuono, 45 euro for two hours. Email reception@coltibuono.com or telephone 0577 74481.

Why does the roof look like a pagoda?

Because the dome over the crossing is enclosed in a quadrilateral tiburio whose covering is laid in receding steps — riseghe — and the stepped profile reads from a distance as a pagoda.

Is the painted ceiling medieval?

No. The nave's covering is an eighteenth-century false vault with late-Baroque frescoes and stuccoes. The barrel vaults of the transept are the original ones.

Who is buried under the altar?

The blessed Benedetto Ricasoli, born at Montegrossi in this comune around 1040, dead here on 20 January 1107, buried first in the cloister and translated beneath the altar on 20 May 1430. Pius X confirmed his cult on 14 May 1907.

What is the big tree?

A Cedar of Lebanon, 20 metres tall with a trunk 7 metres in circumference, listed on the register of monumental plants of Tuscany.

Did a pope own it?

Effectively. Its revenues were large enough that it was given in commendam, with the badia a Passignano, to cardinal Giovanni de' Medici — the future Leo X.

See Badia a Coltibuono through traveler photos →

Sources & verification Covers the sourced claims on this page.

Checked against Wikipedia — The abbey church of San Lorenzo a Coltibuono has the Latin-cross plan typical of Vallombrosan churches: a single rectangular nave closed by a semicircular apse, with a dome set at the crossing of nave and transept under a quadrilateral tiburio whose stepped covering gives the structure the form of a pagoda. The nave's covering is an eighteenth-century false vault decorated with late-Baroque frescoes and stuccoes while the barrel vaults of the transept are original; the nave's wall face is modest work in river cobbles while the transept, apse and bell tower are in filaretto of alberese. On the left stands the massive bell tower, opened at its summit by four large single-light windows and begun in 1160, of grandiose dimensions that marry the tiburio and apse perfectly but not the modest longitudinal body of the church or its facade, which is preceded by a small porch continuing along the left flank., The monastery of Coltibuono is entered through a door to the right of the church facade; the whole complex was transformed into a nineteenth-century country residence but the cloister and the refectory are still distinguishable, now in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century forms., The abbazia di San Lorenzo a Coltibuono, commonly known as the badia a Coltibuono, is a former abbey turned villa in the comune of Gaiole in Chianti; situated in the piviere of San Pietro in Avenano, it was founded in 1049 by the Florentine Firidolfi family and a couple of years later donated to San Giovanni Gualberto, on a site where a church is documented from the middle of the tenth century., By 1115 the complex of Coltibuono was already in the possession of the Vallombrosan monks, attested by a bull of Pope Paschal II addressed to Adimaro abbot of Vallombrosa and by an act of Conrad of Scheiern, marquis of Tuscany, dated 1122., In the following centuries, thanks to numerous and substantial donations, the cenobium of Coltibuono became one of the richest in the region and at its height controlled the badia Ardenga, the abbey of Spineta and the monastery of San Jacopo in Siena; from 1239 it stood under the protection of the Republic of Florence, and for its great revenues it was given in commendam, together with the badia a Passignano, to cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, the future Pope Leo X., On 29 September 1810, on the occasion of the celebrations for the birth of the King of Rome, the expulsion of religious from all monasteries was decreed, and consequently the abbey of Coltibuono was suppressed and sold, its buildings turned into a farm while the church became a simple parish church., In 1816, besieged by creditors after failed speculations, Calamai instituted a lottery whose prizes were landed properties, among them the badia di Coltibuono, valued at 98,000 scudi; the lottery faltered, failing to raise the 60,000 tickets expected to yield 240,000 lire, and Calamai offloaded the whole thing on count Giovanni Giraud, a Roman adventurer, who turned out to hold the winning ticket. Accused of fraud, Giraud sold it to prince Stanislaw Poniatowski, nephew of King Stanislaw August of Poland, then resident in Florence, who married Cassandra Luci in 1830; widowed, she and the children squandered the patrimony financing shows and operas, and in 1846 the badia was sold to cavalier Guido Giuntini, who before paying secured every guarantee from the Vatican against a possible return of the Vallombrosans., The abbey church of San Lorenzo a Coltibuono has the Latin-cross plan typical of Vallombrosan churches: a single rectangular nave closed by a semicircular apse, with a dome set at the crossing of nave and transept under a quadrilateral tiburio whose stepped covering gives the structure the form of a pagoda. The nave's covering is an eighteenth-century false vault decorated with late-Baroque frescoes and stuccoes while the barrel vaults of the transept are original; the nave's wall face is modest work in river cobbles while the transept, apse and bell tower are in filaretto of alberese. On the left stands the massive bell tower, opened at its summit by four large single-light windows and begun in 1160, of grandiose dimensions that marry the tiburio and apse perfectly but not the modest longitudinal body of the church or its facade, which is preceded by a small porch continuing along the left flank., The garden of the badia a Coltibuono, radically restored in recent decades, follows a scheme reflecting that of the ancient hortus conclusus, divided by geometric box hedges with aromatic and officinal plants set among them; the rectangular basin at its centre and the paving of the paths are in pietra serena, and long vine pergolas ornament some of the outer routes. Beside the Badia rises a cedar of Lebanon twenty metres tall with a trunk circumference of seven metres, entered on the register of monumental plants of Tuscany kept by the Corpo Forestale dello Stato, and the property is surrounded by great silver-fir woods, the fruit of the monks' reforestation, relaunched in the nineteenth century., On 29 September 1810, on the occasion of the celebrations for the birth of the King of Rome, the expulsion of religious from all monasteries was decreed, and consequently the abbey of Coltibuono was suppressed and sold, its buildings turned into a farm while the church became a simple parish church., The abbazia di San Lorenzo a Coltibuono, commonly known as the badia a Coltibuono, is a former abbey turned villa in the comune of Gaiole in Chianti; situated in the piviere of San Pietro in Avenano, it was founded in 1049 by the Florentine Firidolfi family and a couple of years later donated to San Giovanni Gualberto, on a site where a church is documented from the middle of the tenth century., The abbey church of San Lorenzo a Coltibuono has the Latin-cross plan typical of Vallombrosan churches: a single rectangular nave closed by a semicircular apse, with a dome set at the crossing of nave and transept under a quadrilateral tiburio whose stepped covering gives the structure the form of a pagoda. The nave's covering is an eighteenth-century false vault decorated with late-Baroque frescoes and stuccoes while the barrel vaults of the transept are original; the nave's wall face is modest work in river cobbles while the transept, apse and bell tower are in filaretto of alberese. On the left stands the massive bell tower, opened at its summit by four large single-light windows and begun in 1160, of grandiose dimensions that marry the tiburio and apse perfectly but not the modest longitudinal body of the church or its facade, which is preceded by a small porch continuing along the left flank., Beneath the high altar of the abbey church of Coltibuono rest the mortal remains of the blessed Benedetto Ricasoli, born at Montegrossi around 1040, who after a worldly youth embraced the religious life among the Vallombrosans of Coltibuono around 1093 and, with his abbot's consent, withdrew to a hermit's life at Castellaccio, distinguishing himself by a life of penitence; he died at Coltibuono on 20 January 1107. He was buried in the abbey cloister and on 20 May 1430 his remains were translated beneath the altar of the abbey church, where they still are. His cult ab immemorabili, alive among the Vallombrosans and in the diocese of Fiesole, was confirmed by Pope Pius X on 14 May 1907, and his elogium is read in the Roman Martyrology on 20 January., The garden of the badia a Coltibuono, radically restored in recent decades, follows a scheme reflecting that of the ancient hortus conclusus, divided by geometric box hedges with aromatic and officinal plants set among them; the rectangular basin at its centre and the paving of the paths are in pietra serena, and long vine pergolas ornament some of the outer routes. Beside the Badia rises a cedar of Lebanon twenty metres tall with a trunk circumference of seven metres, entered on the register of monumental plants of Tuscany kept by the Corpo Forestale dello Stato, and the property is surrounded by great silver-fir woods, the fruit of the monks' reforestation, relaunched in the nineteenth century., In the following centuries, thanks to numerous and substantial donations, the cenobium of Coltibuono became one of the richest in the region and at its height controlled the badia Ardenga, the abbey of Spineta and the monastery of San Jacopo in Siena; from 1239 it stood under the protection of the Republic of Florence, and for its great revenues it was given in commendam, together with the badia a Passignano, to cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, the future Pope Leo X. (October 2026).
Checked against Badia a Coltibuono — As published by the estate's own shop, Badia a Coltibuono prices Visita e Degustazione at 30 euro for one hour with three Chianti Classico wines and schiacciata, Visita e degustazione con schiacciata at 35 euro for an hour and a half with four wines, Sapori di Coltibuono at 45 euro for two hours, Visita privata at 75 euro for two hours with five wines, Cena con visita and Pranzo con visita - Menu Monastero at 67 euro each with a forty-minute guided visit before the meal, the Corso di Cucina at 160 euro for four hours beginning at 10:30 and including a guided abbey tour, and a picnic basket at 55 euro per person with a minimum of two; where online availability is absent the estate asks visitors to write to reception@coltibuono.com or enoteca@coltibuono.com. (October 2026).