Le Crete Senesi | Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore, between Siena and Montalcino | The surroundings of Casa Santa Pia, a holiday house in the south of Tuscany

Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore

The Crete Senesi refers to an area of the Italian region of Tuscany to the south of Siena. It consists of a range of hills and woods among villages and includes the comuni of Asciano, Buonconvento, Monteroni d'Arbia, Rapolano Terme and San Giovanni d'Asso. Crete senesi are literally ‘Siennese clays’ and the distinctive grey colouration of the soil gives the landscape an appearance often described as lunar. This characteristic clay is known as mattaione. Asciano is a medieval town center and has several interesting churches and museums. Five miles south of Asciano, the atmospheric complex of the Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore, which was founded in 1313 by Giovanni Tolomei, dominates the landscape of the Crete. It is located on a hilltop, immersed in a dark yet beautiful natural landscape, and is marked by a suggestive, mystical history. It is the mother-house of the Olivetans and the monastery later took the name of Monte Oliveto Maggiore (the greater) to distinguish it from successive foundations at Florence, San Gimignano, Naples and elsewhere. The abbey's origins date back to the middle ages. Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore was founded in 1313 by Bernardo Tolomei. An imposing square tower with a drawbridge that was part of the original defences erected to protect the entire complex stands at the entrance to the Abbey. The courtyard of the abbey opens onto a broad avenue of cypresses. To the left is the botanical garden that supplied medicinal plants for the monks. A little further on is the fish pond designed in 1553 by Pelori and used by the monks to provide fish at those times of year during which the Benedictine rule forbade the consumption of meat. The cypress avenue leads to the impressively austere, late-gothic church of the abbey, built between 1399 and 1417. The interior of the abbey, renovated in Baroque style, houses a number of precious works of art, including an engraved wooden choir. In the magnificent rectangular Chiostro Grande, constructed between 1426 and 1443. It is made up of two passages, one above the other, supported by columns. The portico is decorated with a fresco cycle by Luca Signorelli depicting the life of St Benedict, who began work on its 36 large scenes in 1497. Signorelli painted eight frescoes. The two last frescoes of the Monte Oliveto series indicate that an immense force lay in reserve, waiting an opportunity for some wider and freer field of action, than had hitherto presented itself. That opportunity came, when, at the age of fifty-nine, he was called upon to undertake the vast work of his Orvieto frescoes. [read more] The cycle was finished in 1508 by Sodoma. Il Sodoma painted in a manner that superimposed the High Renaissance style of early 16th-century Rome onto the traditions of the provincial Sienese school. He spent the bulk of his professional life in Siena, with two periods in Rome. The Chiostro Centrale is composed of a portico that leads to the magnificent Refectory, decorated with frescoes by Fra’ Paolo Novelli. The monastery also houses a very rich library and an ancient pharmacy. The transept leads to the Chapel of the Sacrament, whose altar is adorned by an early 14 C wooden Crucifix. In 1772 the church was redecorated in the late-Baroque style by Giovanni Antinori. Of special interest are the panels behind the choir stalls. These are known as intarsia - wooden mosaics. Intarsia is a form of wood inlaying that is similar to marquetry. The technique of intarsia inlays sections of wood (at times with contrasting ivory or bone) within the solid matrix; by contrast marquetry assembles a pattern out of veneers upon the carcase. The technique of intarsia is believed to have been introduced into Europe through Sicily, the art was perfected in Siena and in northern Italy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Intarsia works in northern Italy reached a peak in the first half of the 1500s, and these works in Monte Oliveto by Fra Giovanni da Verona come from that period.[1]		Creste Senesi Il Sodoma, self portrait in one of the frescoes at Monte Olivetto
Leaving Monte Oliveto Maggiore and passing through San Giovanni d'Asso the route comes to Trequanda. A perfectly preserved 13th-century castle dominates the few houses that there are with its cylindrical crenellated tower. The church in the main Square, dedicated to Saints Peter and Andrew, is also 13th century and has a unique black and white stone checkerboard facade. Inside, there is a wonderful fresco of the Transfiguration by Sodoma.
The festival Accademia delle Crete Senesi was founded on the initiative of artistic director Philippe Herreweghe and some musicians of the Orchestre des Champs Elysées. The Accademia aims to give young talents a chance to play with experienced musicians. The concerts of the Accademia delle Crete take place in small but marvellous churches, chosen because of their adequate acoustics for the repertoire on the program. The Crete Senesi offers splendid locations: Asciano, Castelmuzio, Pienza, Sant’Anna in Camprena , San Quirico d’Orcia... 2010 Edition : August 1-6 \| Program
The small town of Asciano, in the heart of the Crete, still has many of its old medieval palaces and various towers, including the guard towers of the outer walls, which now lie inside the modern-day town. Asciano has many unusual mixed Romanesque and Gothic architectural forms which are of considerable interest. [read more]
Buonconvento is an ancient settlement in the more gentle side of Siena area. The first residential settlements in the area of Buonconvento probably go back to the Etruscan and Roman Ages. Despite this historical data about the foundation of the village, its development starts on the 12th century, when the village already had a great importance as a place where the trading activities took place, promoted this latter by the closeness to the two rivers and to its position on the Via Francigena, one of Europe's major routes in the Middle Ages. The Museo della Val d’Arbia (Val d’Arbia Museum) has recently been opened in the centre o. Here, visitors will find works of art by Sano di Pietro and Matteo di Giovanni. Other sites of interest in the town include the Museo di Arte Sacra (the Museum of Sacred Art), Palazzo Ricci, the church of San Pietro e Paolo (Saint Peter and Saint Paul) and the Oratorio di San Sebastiano (the Oratory of Saint Sebastian). [read more]		Buonconvento
San Giovanni d'Asso is a comune, located 30 km southeast of Siena in the Crete Senesi, about 8 km south-eastwards from Buonconvento. The place name comes from a church that was fouded and entitled to Sain John Baptist (San Giovanni d'Asso is like Saint John of Asso). Later the specification Asso was added, with reference to the torrent along which the village rises. The hamlet is overlooked by large Castle, now home to the tartufo museum. Also interesting in the historical centre are the churches of San Giovanni Battista (pieve) and San Pietro in Villore, both of medieval origin. Among the numerous celebrations periodically taking place in San Giovanni d'Asso we remind the "Exhibit of the White Truffle" held yearly on November. [read more]		San Giovanni d'Asso


At Taverne d'Arbia take the particularly scenic state road 438, toward Asciano.

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Siena Communities | Abbadia San Salvatore · Asciano · Buonconvento · Casole d'Elsa · Castellina in Chianti · Castelnuovo Berardenga · Castiglione d'Orcia · Cetona · Chianciano Terme· Chiusdino · Chiusi · Colle di Val d'Elsa · Gaiole in Chianti · Montalcino · Montepulciano · Monteriggioni · Monteroni d'Arbia · Monticiano · Murlo · Piancastagnaio · Pienza · Poggibonsi · Radda in Chianti · Radicofani · Radicondoli · Rapolano Terme · San Casciano dei Bagni · San Gimignano · San Giovanni d'Asso · San Quirico d'Orcia · Sarteano · Siena · Sinalunga · Sovicille · Torrita di Siena · Trequanda

Fattoria Abbazia di Monteoliveto

The estate, located 1km from the town, and now property of the Zonin family, is dominated by the historic Abbazia Monte Oliveto, which was built by Olivetan monks in 1340. The land around the abbey includes 18 hectares (37 acres) of vineyards, all planted in Vernaccia of San Gimignano. The wine made from that variety was already famous in the lifetime of Dante Alighieri.
Wines: Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Fusaia Sangiovese IGT and Vino Rosso IGT Toscana.

Fattoria Abbazia Monte Oliveto

[1]

Intarsia are mosaics made of pieces of inlaid wood. They are a remarkable art form which reached a peak in northern Italy in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Intarsia is a form of wood inlaying that is similar to marquetry. The term is also used for a similar technique used with small, highly polished stones set in a marble matrix. The technique of intarsia inlays sections of wood (at times with contrasting ivory or bone, or mother-of-pearl) within the solid stone matrix of floors and walls or of table tops and other furniture; by contrast marquetry assembles a pattern out of veneers glued upon the carcase. It is thought that the word 'intarsia' is derived from the Latin word 'interserere' which means "to insert".
Domenico di Nicolo, one of the finest Sienese masters of intarsia and carving, worked for 13 years on the chapel in the Palazzo Pubblico at Siena, using some of Taddeo Bartoli's designs.
Intarsia was originally made by sinking forms into wood, following a prearranged design, and then filling in the hollows with pieces of different coloured woods. Initially only a small number of colours were used. Early writings indicate that the only tints employed were black and white, but this must be interpreted broadly. The colour of wood on the same plank usually differs from place to place; tinting would not have obscured the variations in wood colour.

In the early fifteenth century, at the beginning of the Italian Renaissance, the intarsiatori produced graceful arabesque works perfectly suited to the raw material and often executed with perfection.
These works are considered by some to be the most entirely satisfactory of their works, although not necessarily the most marvellous.
After the invention of perspective drawing and its application to painting, ambitious intarsia crafters emulated this representational trend in wood. Much of their work focussed on street scenes and architectural subjects (not always very successfully) and simple objects like cupboards with their doors partly open to show items on the shelves (often extraordinarily realistic considering the materials and techniques used). This focus on realism was assisted by Fra Giovanni da Verona's discovery of acid solutions and stains for treating wood (to produce a greater variety of colours) and by the practice of scorching areas of the wood to shade them, suggesting roundness.

Intarsia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Abbey Monte Oliveto Maggiore with the famous intarsia works of Fra Giovanni da Verona, constructed around 1520