The Abbey of Saint Galgano in the Tuscany Merse Valley

The Abbey of Saint Galgano was a Cistercian Monastery founded in the valley of the river Merse between the towns of Chiusdino and Monticiano, in the province of Siena, region of Tuscany, Italy. Presently, the roofless walls of the Gothic style 13th-century Abbey church still stand. The abbey grew in wealth and became allied with the Republic of Siena, with its monks routinely serving as high magistrates of the republic's main financial institution.

By the end of the 14th century, only the abbot remained in the monastery after it was despoiled by roving condottieri, including John Hawkwood and his men beginning in 1363. The abbey stayed impoverished and kept decaying for nearly four centuries. In 1786, the campanile fell, taking with it the roof of the church. While some restorations occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries, the church remains a ruin.

Nearby are the Rotonda di Montesiepi chapel from 1185, which retains a peculiar medieval shape similar to Ancient Roman mausoleums. This site includes the tomb of Saint Galgano, the purported site of his death in 1181, and a sword said to have been driven into a stone by Galgano. The grand nave with its windows and apse rose window still stand, along with the abbey's chapter house and part of the scriptorium. The abbey was also the location where parts of Andrei Tarkovsky's 1983 film Nostalghia were shot.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons