Birthplace of San Galgano, Birth house in Chiusdino, Italy.
The Birthplace of San Galgano is a stone palazzo in Chiusdino, later used by the Confraternita di San Galgano as an oratory. Its entrance portal is framed by two carved corbels and bears a cast of a relief of Saint Galgano led by the Archangel Michael to Montesiepi; the original, carved by Giovanni di Agostino around 1330, is kept in the Museo civico e diocesano di arte sacra di San Galgano. Inside the lower chapel, in the right corner, stands a boulder said to hold the knee prints of Galgano's kneeling horse.
Tradition holds that Galgano was born here around 1150 into a noble family tied by vassalage to the bishops of Volterra. After his father's death he left Chiusdino for Montesiepi, where he fixed his sword in the ground; he died on 30 November 1181. Bishop Ugo of Volterra authorised a chapel around the tomb and sword, and the house later passed to the Cistercians.
After Galgano's canonization, his mother continued to live in the house, which then passed to the Cistercian monks of Montesiepi and was donated to the Confraternity of San Galgano. The confraternity set up two oratories: the lower chapel in the entrance hall and the upper chapel in an upstairs room. The lower chapel was restored in neo-Gothic style in 1905.
The house lies in the village of Chiusdino and is easily reached on foot from the center through the narrow streets. Visitors should wear sturdy shoes since the old stone pavement can be uneven.
Inside the lower chapel, in the right-hand corner, stands a boulder said to bear the knee prints of San Galgano's horse, which knelt when the Archangel Michael appeared. The stone was moved here in 1958 from the road between Chiusdino and Luriano castle.
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