The Abbey Basilica of San Miniato is located in one of the highest places in the city of Florence, and is one of the best examples of Florentine Romanesque. It has the dignity of a minor basilica. There are five abbeys in Florence and its surroundings: the Badia Fiesolana to the north, the Badia a Settimo to the west, the San Miniato abbey to the south, the Badia a Ripoli to the east and the Florentine Abbey in the center.
San Miniato was the first martyr of the city. He was probably a Greek merchant or an Armenian prince on a pilgrimage to Rome. It is said that, around 250, when he arrived in Florence, he began the life of a hermit and that he was beheaded during the anti-Christian persecutions of the emperor Decius, then leaving the place of execution with his head in his hand and arriving on the other side of the 'Arno on the site of his hermitage and the current basilica, on Mons Florentinus.
Later, on this place, a sanctuary was erected and, in the 8th century, a chapel. The construction of the current church began in 1018 under the bishop Alibrando and continued under the emperor Henry II.
Abbey Basilica of San Miniato
Address: Via delle Porte Sante, 34, 50125
Phone: +390552342731
Site:
http://www.sanminiatoalmonte.it/Location inserted by
Giulia