56 – After None, my brother-guide takes me to the sacristy, where an opening in the west wall gives access to a steep, narrow, spiral staircase dating to the 12th century. It leads up to the tribune. Once arrived at the top of the staircase, I lean over the parapet of the twin lancet window situated above the nave, in order to admire the spectacular aerial perspective of the church. The brother opens an old renaissance-style door. The architrave and side posts are made of ‘serena’ stone. On the inside there is a space where a little German organ is kept, with seven stops for liturgical use. It dates back to the sixties. Another door takes us into the Bishop’s apartment, set in the south tribune. The first room was the dining hall. It is decorated with pastoral frescoes and provided with a fireplace. Two other simpler rooms follow. Quite decisively, this abbey reveals rather a number of odd things. Brother Giovanni perceives my astonishment, and says, “You see, the big imperial abbey of the 12th century was transformed, along with time, into the temporary residence of the Bishops of Montalcino, and subsequently even into a farmhouse! Magnificence and decadence.
57 – “Do you recall how the Republic of Siena had inflicted a mortal blow on the abbot of Sant’Antimo, when they besieged and occupied the castle of Montalcino? Well, in 1291, Pope Nicholas IV ordered the Benedictine community of the abbey to unite themselves to the Guglielmites, a reformed branch of the Benedictines, who lived in a narrow valley near Castiglione della Pescara. By this decision the Pope hoped to give renewed vigour to the religious community of Sant’Antimo, by then prey to hundreds of difficulties. It is a fact that the Guglielmites were known to be ‘men filled with a fervour for piety, contemplation, and chastity’. Amidst the many negative events, we must also remember that the devastating pestilence of 1347 decimated a third of the European population, and the monasteries were not to be spared. Notwithstanding the efforts made by Saint Catherine to reform the community, it continued to slither and slide ever more in the dark. From 1397 until 1404, the abbey was ‘administered, directed, and governed’ by fra Bartholomeu di Simone, Bishop of Cortona. But the worst was yet to come… On the 4th August 1439, the abbot Paul of Castelnuovo dell’Abate was imprisoned for his villany. After him, the community was guided by two other abbots, the last being the Guglielmite, Herculaneum. In 1462, in the chapel of Saint Benedict (Carolingian chapel) the last and ultimate Chapter of the Guglielmites was held, and the Benedictine community so breathed its last in this valley. 530 years will pass, before the liturgical chant shall be heard again at Sant’Antimo.
58 – “As a matter of fact, the great Pope of the Renaissance, Pius II (from the Piccolomini of Pienza), in 1462 suppressed the abbey and entrusted its goods to the Bishop Cinughi, first Ordinary of the new Diocese of Montalcino – Pienza, created on 13th August of the same year. The Supreme Pontiff cited this event in his commentaries, as follows: ‘Through the negligence of its last abbots, it (the abbey) has come to such a degree of poverty that it no longer possess any temporal property. The abbot who ruled over the monastery in these times, an extravagant man, and lacking concern, has neglected or sold that material property which remained, and squandered all to such an extent, that the bread of sorrow and the water of misery was all that could sustain it.’ But this Pope was exaggerating, because the abbey was still quite prosperous. He simply wanted to change his town of birth Corsignano, into a Renaissance city, called Pienza, in order to give it also a Bishop (none other than his nephew), with territories and ruling power. Sant’Antimo was a very interesting pawn for the realisation of his project.”
59 – “But why build an apartment in the tribune? Would it not have been easier to adapt the already existing rooms around the cloister?”
“The very fact that they built above the chapter hall and then in the tribune, signifies that in the 15th century various parts of the main structure had already collapsed - such as the cloister, some sections of the chapter hall, the library, the dormitory, and the store-houses… The stones had been utilised for the construction of the neighbouring houses, and it is sufficient to dig in the field facing the main portal, to discover remnants of the monastery, pieces from capitals etc. In order to avoid the worst, it seems evident that the new proprietors of the abbey intervened only in order to adjust the still existing parts. The first Bishops, in fact, restored the roof, and perhaps heightened also the tribune walls, thus modifying them. They modified the presbytery by opening a door in the wall, which, from the Carolingian chapel gives direct access to the church. It is not so easy to identify the exact points where they had intervened. It is the third bishop, Agostino Patrizi, that created the apartment that we are now visiting.”
“It is really quite fascinating, but was it not rather an awkward place for a renaissance prelate?”
“ Yes - but the bishops did not stay here all the year round, preferring to remain at their residence at Montalcino, or at Castelnuovo dell’Abate. They visited the abbey mainly to receive the taxes. The historian Canali related an amusing anecdote in respect to this. He wrote: ‘On the 11th May, men from Castel del Piano brought into the church of Saint’Antimo, as payment for taxes, 16 pounds and many dishes, i.e. 100 pieces of crockery for the use of the monastery, and above all, for the bishop of Montalcino, inter Missarum Solemnia. They carried the said pottery in two sacks. When the receiver of the bishop or abbot said, “There are not one hundred pieces here,” they responded: “If there are not, we will make them.” And as they threw the sacks down on the ground, one could hear the breaking of the crockery.’
“A positive note, can however, be found amidst this progressive abandonment.”
“Why do you say this?”
“For a very simple reason. The decline has contributed in leaving intact the Romanesque church. If the monks would have remained here, the abbey most likely would have undergone architectural remodelling, according to the later Renaissance or Baroque styles, as had happened to many medieval churches.”
60 – The tribunes above the aisles are connected along the western side by a corridor, most probably adjoined during the period of the bishops. It runs along the inner side of the façade wall, and is upheld by four little semi-circular arches, while on the eastern side, they follow the curve of the apse, to form and sustain the upper ambulatory. The north tribune is not divided into rooms, thus permitting the twin lancet windows to pass more light on the nave. The archaeological finds discovered in the cloister and elsewhere, are here preserved.
61 – We stop in front of a high, narrow door, just where the wall of the north tribune is about to curve in order to form the apse. Brother Giovanni looks at his watch, and then at me. In rather an amused way, he asks me, “Will your legs be able to carry you up to the top of the bell tower? Climbing up these stairs is quite exhausting, but the view that one encounters up there amply rewards every effort made. Come! Let’s go up! I shall tell you more secrets about this abbey.”
I begin to climb the stairs, while at every floor the view continues to change…the roof over the north aisle, the roof of the abbey, then …the pigeons sheltering in the spaces in the walls, on the windowsills, or under the eaves… At last we arrive! From the terrace that covers the bell tower, the view is breathtaking – certainly on account of the many steps we climbed! From up here, the entire valley can be seen. The horizon stretches out, over and above the profile of the hills. As the wind tears lightly at his tunic, brother Giovanni points out some nearby places, and some others further away, hidden amongst the green hills. “This is ‘our’ property – lands, fields, fruit orchards! But just look at the strange aspect that everything assumes from on high! The roofs of the two apses look like wheels made from Chinese fans. And the cypress from up here no longer seems so tall and stately. There, on the southern side of the abbey are our living quarters. Lower down, and somewhat hidden by the walls surrounding the cloister, there are two reception halls for the guests – the ‘San Norberto’ hall, and the ‘Sant’Agostino’ hall. A little lower still, under the oak tree, the Scout centre and the small toilet block can be seen. On the opposite side of the road, in a hollow excavated in the hill, below Castelnuovo dell’Abate, we built a big centre (in the year 2000), where groups of visitors can stay. It is the Tabor Hostel. Later on, we shall make a visit there…”
62 – From afar off, the church-clock of Castelnuovo dell’Abate strikes the hour. The brother continues to explain, “The bell tower of the abbey also has its bells. Here they are! Two of them! One bears the date MCCXVIIII (1219), and the name of the abbot Ugo (1216 –1222). From this date onwards, the toiling of this bell has continued to measure the hours, to call to prayer, and to announce oncoming danger. It seems strange to you? Most probably, during the period that ran from the 14th to the 16th century, the abbey was a fortified and protected place, where the inhabitants of the surrounding countryside could find refuge in case of danger. The top of the roof, as also the top of the bell tower were crenelated, whilst a secret underground passage proceeding from the crypt in an eastern direction, was used in order to escape unnoticed. This tunnel which in part has collapsed, was definitely closed to visitors in 1970, for safety measures. Before going down from here, however, I would like to say something more about the community.”