In province of Siena, close to Monte Amiata, there is a town where the autumn season is very important so is celebrated with a festival: this place it’s called Abbadia San Salvatore and is the destination we suggest to tourists arriving in October and wishful to discover the attractions in the surrounding area of the Palio’s town.
Abbadia San Salvatore is named after the Benedictine Abbey of the same name, founded in 762; now the Abbey also hosts a museum with many relics of gilded wood, while in the past hosted the Codex Amiatinus, the oldest manuscript of the Bible in the Latin version, a copy of St. Jerome’s text.
The town of Abbadia organizes the Autumn Festival on the second and third weekends in October, to remember the days when mushrooms and chestnuts were the main food of the Abbadia inhabitants because of grain shortage.
Things to do in Abbadia San Salvatore
If you like the idea of a weekend outside Siena or you would like to make a brief stop in a very characteristic town, the dates of the festival are 10th, 11th, 12th, 17th, 18th and 19th October.
The food stands are open from Friday 10th from 5:00 pm to midnight, will offer local delights (dishes based on mushrooms and chestnuts), gastronomical delicacies and sweets typical of the Tuscan tradition. On Saturday you can book a nature trail, “The Path of the Springs”, a route that through bridges and paths lined with waterfalls reach the Camaldolese hermitage Ermicciolo.
At Via Cavour in Abbadia you will find an antiques market throughout the day, where local craftsmen sell rare handmade items, and from 3:00 pm the streets of the town will be enlivened by musical concerts and historical re-enactments.
On Sunday you can choice among many ernatives, such as going mushrooming with the help of a mycologist, a mountain-bike tour through chestnut and beech trees, or a guided tour including visits at the medieval Abbey of San Salvatore, the Longobardic crypt, the Abbey museum and other suggestive places such as the Palazzo del Podestà and the street where are located traditional small shops.
Furthermore 2 guided tours at Abbadia San Salvatore mine are available: this town, in fact, was known for the refining of mercury and former miners will explain to tourists their work and what their lifestyle was in the past.
Nowadays Abbadia is a tourist destination recommended to those who want to make historical-naturalistic itineraries in the beautiful Terre di Siena. For information and reservations of Autumn Festival guided tours, please contact the phone number 0577 775 811.
0Comments