Located just outside Castelfranco di Sopra, but fortunately remaining isolated and surrounded by green olive trees and vines, today the complex of the Abbey of San Salvatore a Soffena is an extraordinary calling card for those who come to the village from the Setteponti road. The complex consists of the church, cloister and convent.
The Abbey is mentioned as early as 1014 in a document. In 1090 with a papal bull of Urban II°, it was entrusted to the Vallombrosian monks along with other possessions. In the early decades of the 1700s, however, the Abbey went into rapid decline; in fact, it was destined for agricultural use resulting in the dispersion of the artistic artifacts and damage to the frescoes.
The church, first recorded in 1076, insists on the structures of a 9th-10th century building. Between the 13th and 14th centuries it was rebuilt in a rotated position in relation to the earlier building. While adopting the Vallombrosian architectural scheme of a Latin cross with a tiburium, the building has some solutions, such as transverse terracotta arches, characteristic of the new 13th-century language. The bell tower is opened by a round of elegant mullioned windows with two lights in the belfry. Inside, a cycle of frescoes with the Life of St. John Gualbert by Neri di Bicci; a Madonna and Child by Paolo Schiavo; an Annunciation by Giovanni di Ser Giovanni known as lo Scheggia, brother of Masaccio; and a Massacre of the Innocents by Liberato da Rieti.
Opening hours:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 1 to 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sunday: open 2nd and 4th of the month from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Free Admission