27 – So as not to disturb the silence in the church, brother Giovanni takes me to the cloister where we sit down on a low wall. He then says, “Francesco, I want to continue to tell you the story of Sant’Antimo. We have seen that the primitive nucleus was most probably a little oratory, after which the first monastery was then constructed. I had also explained how the founding of the monastery had been attributed to Charlemagne, forcing us to think about a frequent custom of that period by which the historic origins of a monument were falsified, or invented ex novo, in order to gain major importance for it.
“The vital Carolingian impetus permits the Benedictine community to enter its period of splendour. In fact, the abbot of Sant’Antimo held the title of Palatine Count (count and counsellor of the Holy Roman Empire), a public position of great importance conferred on him by the emperor. On studying the imperial parchments, the most important of which is undoubtedly that of Henry III (1051), and the Papal parchments preserved in various archives, a map can be traced of all the territories and churches which belonged to, or were under the jurisdiction of the abbey of Sant’Antimo. Within the areas stretching from Grosseto to Pistoia, and between Siena and Florence, 96 were properties between castles, lands, farms and mills, and 85 the complex number of monasteries, churches, parish-churches and hospitals. The major property of the community, over and above Sant’Antimo, was the castle of Montalcino. Here the Prior (the abbot’s deputy), stayed in a residence, now incorporated in the fortress wall. Thus, at the beginning of the 12th century, the abbey was actually in a very satisfactory material and spiritual condition – well strengthened by the support of the Papacy, as by that of the Empire.”
28 – We hear the sound of a door being opened. A brother comes forth, with a book in his hand. He sees us and slowly makes his way towards us. He is young, tall, and courteous. In a friendly way he says, “This marvellous sunlight invites me to come outside. At last I have a bit of time for studying today. I want to deepen my knowledge on a subject treated by Saint Augustine in one of his discourses. The open-air helps me to concentrate better. In this silence, surrounded by the beauty of nature, I appreciate more fully the gifts of the spirit.”
29 – My guide greets him, and continues again to narrate: “But it was the year 1118 that signed the beginning of the apogee of Sant’Antimo. The count Bernard, son of Bernard, of the family Ardengheschi, ceded his entire patrimony of movables and real assets in his possession ‘in the whole kingdom of Italy and in the whole region of Tuscany,’ to Ildebrando, son of Rustico, so that he could leave it to the abbey. One perceives the enormous entity of the donation, if one considers the very great sum of 1000 pounds paid by the monastery to Fortisguerra, brother of Bernardo. This sum was paid to obtain his consent, and the promise not to disturb the monks any longer in the enjoyment of their rights to the property.
“Such an enormous donation, even for the abbey of Sant’Antimo, was certainly an exception. This historic fact has been engraved on the steps of the main altar, in the form of a ‘stone charter’ as a perpetual memorial.
“The donation made in 1118 provided the necessary impulse for the construction of the new church. In fact, the abbot Guidone (1108 –1128), who received this donation, wanted Sant’Antimo to live up to its reputation as an imperial abbey. The new church, about to be built, had to be the most innovative and the most beautiful in artistic achievement. The reciprocal contacts between the Benedictine abbeys throughout Europe, was a particular characteristic of this period. The most important point of reference was the great Benedictine abbey of Cluny (Burgundy, France).
“Guidone, well aware of the famous reputation of the French architects, solicited plans from them for the new church, which seems thus to have its inspiration from the Benedictine abbey of Vignory, at Haute-Marne in Champagne (France), which dates to the year 1050.”
30 – “ Excuse me if I interrupt you, but I see that the transept is missing. At school I had learnt that many Romanesque churches were planned in the form of a cross. Here it seems that the nave is narrow, where it should instead, be wider. Can you explain why this is so?”
Brother Giovanni looks at me with a satisfied expression. “You have made a very keen observation. I will now reveal you a little mystery. I would have preferred not to enter into the question as such, because there are no historic data in relation to this. Since you have made this question, however, I shall try to give you a full reply based on a quite reliable hypothesis. It is quite probable that between the first monastery (Sant’Antimo II), and the big abbey (Sant’Antimo IV), an intermediate church had been constructed (Sant’Antimo III). To sustain this hypothesis, they lay down the subsequent factors.
“Within the actual church, sculptures of a very high artistic value are found: the north portal and the south portal, the side posts of the sacristy door, some capitals situated in the north gallery, and other erratic capitals and fragments of decorative elements or little pillars. All these must have belonged to a building structure dating back to an epoch prior to the 12th century. This leads us to believe that during the 9th – 10th century, the abbey must have reached a great and magnificent splendour. But how could the Carolingian chapel, with a dimension of only 30 sq. meters, have space for 40 monks, as prescribed by Charles the Bald in the year 887?
“Historic data confirm that a Carolingian monastery did exist (Sant’Antimo II). Most probably, the primitive oratory (Sant’Antimo I), with the crypt that contains the sepulchre of the saint, is to be identified next to the Carolingian chapel. It is assumable that around the year 1000, the Benedictine monks had built a larger church on this crypt (Sant’Antimo III), of which only the bell tower still exists. Most probably it had been built in a detached position from the nave, according to an Italian architectonic tradition of that period.
“During the construction of the larger church, (12th century – Sant’Antimo IV), measures had to be taken in relation to the already existing structural bonding, adapting and cutting away the space of the presbytery, in order to insert it between the bell tower and the Carolingian chapel. And this is the likely reason why the choir zone of Sant’Antimo is narrower than the rest of the church. Has my explanation convinced you?
31 – “But now, let us return to the architecture of this abbey. The element which, more than any other, confers a French stamp to this church, is the presence of the ambulatory and the radiating chapels. It is an innovative plan, unique in Tuscany, and to be found in very few churches in Italy: Santa Trinita in Venosa, the cathedral of Acerenza (Basilicata), the cathedral of Aversa (Campania) and Santa Maria a Piè of Chienti (Marche). The use of the ambulatory was not new in Romanesque architecture. As early as the 6th and 7th centuries, some churches were provided with passageways behind the choir. One has to wait until the middle of the 11th century, however, before it expands. As such, its use was not universal, because those territories depending on the Empire seem to have ignored this architectural novelty. It is above all, along the pilgrimage routes of the epoch, that one finds churches with an ambulatory, as for example Santiago of Compostella, Saint-Gilles, Rome and Jerusalem. The ambulatory, in fact, was born by the need of pilgrims to walk round the martyrium, (place where the relics of the saint lie), and to stop there to pray. Do you remember? We have already spoken about this fact! Sant’Antimo is provided with an ambulatory because it was situated at only a few kilometres from the Via Francigena where the pilgrims passed en route to the tomb of Saint Peter at Rome.
32 – “Other architectonic elements which connect the church of Sant’Antimo to the artistic culture of France, are the groin vaults of the ambulatory, and the side aisles, as well as the height of the nave which soars up to about 20 metres. One can also notice how the nave has a layout of three distinct architectonic planes to order its height. On the ground plane, the large arches, on the middle plane the triforium, or tribune (named also ‘matroneum’), and finally the plane of the windows, or cleresory, on the uppermost plane. This subdivision into three planes does not exist in the Italian Romanesque architecture of the same period. Nonetheless, the basic model of the church is substantially Lombard, as is the wooden framework which covers the nave, and the rhythmical line of the arcade, interrupted by pillars.
“It is most probable that the nave was subdivided along its length by two transverse arches leaning on the cruciform pillars, while the apse closed up in a semi-spherical vault. To divide the roof into three parts, was a usage connected to two basic factors: For a purely aesthetic reason, by which more emphasis was given to the altar, and for a merely practical reason, by which to stop the spreading of the flames in case of fire. It is probable that a collapse destroyed these architectonic structures.
33 – “Towards the middle of the 12th century, the church was almost finished, but the façade remained incomplete. The abbey appeared to be solid and prosperous - at least this was the impression that it gave. But dark clouds were gathering over the territory of the monastery. Montalcino, at that time under the jurisdiction of the abbot of Sant’Antimo, proved to be of particular interest to Siena, as to Florence. In fact, since Siena could not expand to the north, on account of Florence, her rival, she tried to expand to the south. As early as July 1145, the Republic of Siena forced the abbot of San Salvatore to cede the castle of Radicofani along the Via Francigena. Just as if to support the political policy of Siena, Pope Clement III placed the parish of Montalcino under the Bishop of Siena, in a brief of 1189. Eleven years later, Philip Malvolti, podestà of Siena, and in command of its troops, attacked Montalcino. The town was assaulted, and the walls were destroyed. On 12th June 1212, after various events, an agreement was stipulated between the authorities of Montalcino, and the abbot of Sant’Antimo. With the authorities of Siena on one side, and those of Montalcino on the other, they confirmed that the abbey of Sant’Antimo must cede a quarter of the territory of Montalcino to the commune of Siena. The loss of Montalcino represented a heavy and irreparable blow for the abbot. It meant losing the most important centre of his jurisdiction. It was the beginning of the end. Siena would never abandon Montalcino again, and would begin to undermine the property of the monastery to such an extent, that in 1293 the abbey possessed only one fifth of all the properties found between Montalcino and Seggiano.”