Jerusalem? In Tuscany, of course!

At the beginning there was Vivaldo Stricchi, native of San Gimignano where he was born in 1260 from a well-to-do family. Vivaldo led a wicked and immoderate life. At least until he met priest Bartolo. For Vivaldo it was a real enlighten. He decided to abandon all to remain to live with his master. And when, in 1300, Bartolo died, Vivaldo move to a thick forest near Montaione, where he lead a very hard and solitary life, between fastes and penances. He built a cellar inside a secular chestnut tree. And just in this tree, when he was engrossed in the prayer, he died, the 1st of May, 1320, when he was sixty.

His body was found the day after by the inhabitants of Montaione, prodigiously attractred there and immediately buried in the church of the town, of which he became the patron. A few years later, in 1325, in the place where Vivaldo died, was built a little chapel that, some decades later, was enlarged. The same church we can admire today. And that would become one of the several veneration places we can find everywhere in Tuscany. Served by the Franciscan friars that were established there.

Due to the inspiration of one of the friars living there, Tommaso da Firenze, in the 1500 started the construction of the convent and especially of the chapels that will dramatically show the vicissitudes of the Passion of Our Lord and reproduce, even if in smaller scale, the plan of Jerusalem as it was in the fifteenth century. A project that aroused enthusiasm in the inhabitants of the environs that work so hard that the buildings were already completed in 1515. In 1516 the pope granted an indulgence of seven years for the major chapels and of one year for the others. The conceiver of the Sacred Mount (the “Sacro Monte”) was, as we have written, Tommaso da Firenze, a Franciscan frair that was really gone to Jerusalem and in the East, and was consequently, thanks to his experience, able to give accurate information. He chose with great attention the sites, orienting the buildings as the authentic Jerusalem, choosing the hills more suitable to represent the Mount of Olives, the Calvary, or the esplanade of the Temple.

It was the period in which the city, with the all Palestine, falled under the Turkish rule, less well-disposed towards the Christians than the Arabic. The Sacro Monte of San Vivaldo, as the other Sacred Mounts of Northern Italy, allowed to go on pelgrimage in the sites of the Passion of Our Lord, with no need of going to the East and spend the prohibitive cost of that journey. San Vivaldo is a mystic and symbolic itinerary that winds in the splendour of the forest, marked by the following of the chapels that show, in a dramatic way and with hundreds of characters, the Way of the Cross (or Sorrowful Way), ran by Jesus. So, the pilgrims had the real possibility to touch and see the events about which they usually had heard from the pulpit only.

The events were represented by groups of scultures, ceramics, terracottas and paintings, sometims of “popular” and ingenuous making, but often of exquisite quality and realized by great artists as Giovanni della Robbia and Benedetto Buglioni. At the beginning there were twentyfive chapels but after, because of a landslide movement, some of them got lost, others were add later, as the Annunciation Chapel or the caphels representing the Samaritana or the Flight into Egypt.

The visit of the Sacro Monte of San Vivaldo, that was definied the “mystic Disneyland”, is a journey that still strick everybody’s heart. A sensatione caused maybe by the theatricality of the statuary groups, maybe by the unique fascination of this forest. But, in first of all, the journey is a full immertion in a sacred drama in which we are the protagonists. Starting from the Pilate’s House where we are present at the scourging and to the outrage of Christ, we walk towards the Calvary escorting the Saviour under the weight of the Cross. With a crescendo that cannot be stopped that leads to the Crucifixione and the Holy Sepulchre; while other chapels, added in a second time, lead us to live the Last Supper, the Flight into Egypt, the Annunciation, and so on.

A meditation place, of course, but with a great fascination. And that is strictly joined to the convent built by the Franciscan friars and that keeps the Franciscan atmosphere and simplicity, even after the successive modifications. Similarly the church dedicated to San Vivaldo, with the airy portico, is essential and silent. The church is ideally joined to the other chapels, with its bright Della Robbia’s ceramics. And preserve several other works of art, as the painting of Raffaellino del Garbo representing “the Madonna glorified between saints”. Inside, in a humble chapel, the body of San Vivaldo lies. Exactly in the place where stood the secular tree that was his prayer and meditation cellar. Where, long time ago, all began.

San Vivaldo is situated about 5 km from Montaione.  From Firenze and Siena: take the motorway (Autopalio) Firenze-Siena, isuue Poggibonsi, then the Strada Statale 429 towards Empoli. Arrived in Certaldo turn towards Gambassi Terme and follow the directions to Montaione.
If you are coming from Firenze or Pisa, you can take the Strada di Grande Comunicazione (SGC) Firenze-Pisa-Livorno and go away at Empoli Ovest (Ponte a Elsa), then take la Strada Statale 429 towards Siena, when you arrive in Castelfiorentino turn to Montaione. If you are travelling from Pisa, in alternative you can take, from the Strada di Grande Comunicazione Firenze-Pisa-Livorno, the issue Montopoli Valdarno and follow the indications for Palaia, then towards Montaione

Comune di Montaione - Tourist Information
Via Cresci 17 - Palazzo Pretorio - Tel. 0571 699255 / 0571 699254 - Fax 0571 699256 - mail: turismo@comune.montaione.fi.it - Winter open hours: 9.30-12.30 - Summer open hours (from June to October): 9.30-12.30/16.00-19.00