Born into a noble family, Gualberto was a predictably vain individual who sought pleasure in vanities and romantic intrigues.

One Good Friday as he was entering Florence with his armed followers, he happened, in a narrow lane, to come upon the man who had killed his brother.

The killer fell upon his knees with arms outstretched in the form of a cross and begged for mercy in the name of Jesus, reminding Gualbert that Christ had died on that day.

[4] Gualbert entered the Benedictine church at San Miniato al Monte to pray and the figure on the crucifix is said to have bowed its head to him in recognition of his generous and merciful act.

Gualbert begged pardon of his sins and that week cut off his hair and began to wear an old habit that he had borrowed.

[1] He fought against simoniacal actions of which both his abbot Oberto and the Bishop of Florence Pietro Mezzabarba were accused and their guilt discovered.

His attraction was for the cenobitic and not eremitic life so after he spent some time with the monks at Camaldoli, but later settled at Vallombrosa where he founded his own convent in 1036.

[3] The holy lives of the first monks at Vallombrosa attracted considerable attention and brought many requests for new foundations, but there were few postulants, since few could endure the extraordinary austerity of the life.

In the struggle of the popes against simony the early Vallumbrosans took a considerable part, of which the most famous incident is the ordeal by fire undertaken successfully by St. Peter Igneus in 1068.

A Bull of Pope Urban II in 1090, which takes Vallombrosa under the protection of the Holy See, enumerates fifteen monasteries besides the motherhouse.