Abbey of Sant'Antimo

The various accounts of Charlemagne founding the abbey are without direct historical foundation; they first appear in a document of the emperor Henry III from 1051.

The earliest document relating to the abbey is a land grant of Louis the Pious dated December 813, now in the Archivio di Stato of Siena.

[3] Following a bequest of Bernardo degli Ardengheschi,[citation needed] construction of the present church was begun before 1118, a date which is inscribed on the altar step and on a column to the left of it.

Parts of the earlier structure remain visible in the crypt and in the so-called Cappella Carolingia, or Carolingian chapel.

[4] This was the period of greatest power of the abbey, which had authority over 38 churches, from Pisa to Grosseto, and control of about 1000 mansi, or farm estates, throughout Tuscany.

[citation needed] In the mid-12th century, halted in its expansion northwards by Florence, Siena moved its attention to Montalcino.

Of the Carolingian edifice, the apse (called Cappella Carolingia) and the portal, richly decorated with animal and vegetable motifs, are visible.