BADIA A SETTIMO. — The Abbey of S. Salvatore at Settimo, near Florence, founded by Count Lotario dei Cadolingi at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries, was first inhabited by the Cluniac Benedictines and, after 1236, by the Cistercians of S. Galgano.
Enclosed within late 14th-century fortifications, the Abbey preserves almost intact the planimetric layout given it by the Cistercians, as well as many parts constructed by them between the 13th and 14th centuries, such as the Chapter House and a large three-aisled hall with ribbed vaults (originally perhaps intended to accommodate pilgrims), which constitutes the earliest example of Gothic architecture in the Florentine territory. The towered gateway, adorned with a grand stucco relief with French influences, was destroyed, along with the bell tower, by German mines in July 1944.
The church, through various transformations, has retained the crypt and other remains of the original structure, which can be dated to the early 11th century. Of the same period was the lower part, with a circular plan, of the bell tower, which rose above with two polygonal sections, the lower from the 13th century and the upper from the 14th. To this century belongs the decoration of the church’s roof, while the presbytery and two cloisters display Brunelleschian forms.
Trecento frescoes, from the school of Ghirlandaio and Giovanni di S. Giovanni, are found in the church, which also preserves paintings, reliquaries, and reliquary busts from the 15th century. — V. Tav. XLII.