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Badia a Coltibuono

Badia a Coltibuono site features

Last updated on November 3, 2026

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The church

The church is the best-preserved thing here, and its plan is an order's signature. The abbey church, dedicated to San Lorenzo, 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 roof gives the whole structure, from outside, the silhouette of a pagoda.

Read the roof and the walls separately. The nave's covering is an eighteenth-century false vault decorated with late-Baroque frescoes and stuccoes; the barrel vaults of the transept are original. The nave's wall face is modest work in river cobbles, while the transept, the apse and the bell tower are in the proper filaretto of alberese.

The bell tower was built to match a grander church than the one it got. On the left stands a massive campanile, begun in 1160 and opened at the top by four large single-light windows. Its grandiose dimensions marry perfectly with the tiburio and the apse — and not at all with the modest longitudinal body of the church and its facade, which is preceded by a small porch that continues along the left flank.

Under the high altar lies a beatified monk. The remains of the blessed Benedetto Ricasoli, born at Montegrossi in this comune around 1040 and dead at Coltibuono on 20 January 1107, were first buried in the cloister and translated beneath the altar on 20 May 1430, where they still are.

The monastery survives as a country house with the monastery showing through. A door to the right of the facade leads into it. The whole complex was converted into a nineteenth-century country residence, but the cloister and the refectory are still distinguishable, now in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century forms.

The garden is a monastic idea rebuilt. Radically restored in recent decades, it follows the scheme of the ancient hortus conclusus — the walled kitchen garden — divided by geometric box hedges with aromatic and medicinal plants set among them. The rectangular basin at its centre and the paving of the paths are in pietra serena, and long vine pergolas run along some of the outer routes.

And the single most impressive living thing is a tree. Beside the Badia stands a Cedar of Lebanon 20 metres tall with a trunk seven metres in circumference, entered on the register of monumental plants of Tuscany kept by the Corpo Forestale dello Stato.

Verified against Wikipedia, October 2026.

Key highlights

The pagoda tiburio

The thing to look for from outside. The dome over the crossing sits inside a quadrilateral tiburio whose roof steps inward in riseghe, and the result reads, from the valley, as a pagoda on a Romanesque church. It is the most distinctive roofline in the comune.

A bell tower from 1160, oversized on purpose

Begun in 1160, massive, opened at the summit by four large single-light windows. It is scaled to the apse and the tiburio rather than to the nave, which is why the church looks unbalanced from the front and coherent from the back.

River cobbles against alberese

The whole history of the fabric in two materials. The nave is faced in ciottoli di fiume of modest workmanship; the transept, apse and campanile are in filaretto of alberese, the good ashlar work. The money went where the liturgy was.

The hortus conclusus

A walled monastic garden rebuilt to its own logic: geometric box hedges, aromatic and officinal plants, a central rectangular basin and paths both in pietra serena, with vine pergolas outside. Not a pleasure garden — a working one, restored as such.

A monumental cedar and the monks' forest

The Cedar of Lebanon beside the abbey is 20 metres tall with a trunk 7 metres round and is listed among Tuscany's monumental plants. The great silver-fir woods around the property are the fruit of the monks' own reforestation, taken up again in the nineteenth century — the landscape here was planted, not found.

The blessed under the altar

Benedetto Ricasoli, born at Montegrossi around 1040, took the Vallombrosan habit here around 1093, withdrew to a hermit's life at Castellaccio with his abbot's consent, and died at Coltibuono on 20 January 1107. His cult, alive among the Vallombrosans and in the diocese of Fiesole, was confirmed by Pope Pius X on 14 May 1907. His feast is 20 January.

Nine centuries of accounts, then a lottery

The abbey was rich enough to be held in commendam by a future pope and poor enough, once suppressed, to be used as a lottery prize valued at 98,000 scudi. Both facts are the same fact.

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., 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 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 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., 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., 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., 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., 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. (October 2026).