THE CHURCHES

Recently renovated in compliance with safety measures, the complex shows different building steps: the church has kept its medieval features, while the monastery architecture shows elements of both the 16th and the 18th centuries.
The religious building conserves the typical construction features of the Camaldolese Order: a T-shaped, apsed plan, a bell tower and a perfectly squared masonry.
Once, columns divided the interior into three naves, covered by wooden trusses; today, a single unroofed hall was left, as the roof collapsed in 1895 and the columns were moved to the meadow in front of the new San Giusto church.
The church masonry in dimension stone, laid on horizontal courses, proves the great skill of monks-builders who used to travel through the territory to spread their knowledge. 
The monastery still conserves the cloister, the refectory, the kitchens, a dormitory, the stables and other spaces of daily use.

Tradition has it that the abbey rose in the place where the saint bishops Giusto and Clemente had lived in the 6th century. Initially, the complex comprised just two small churches, dedicated to San Giusto and to San Clemente, respectively.
Earliest documents related to the foundation of the present church (dedicated to San Salvatore) and of the monastic facilities date back to a period comprised between 1030 and 1034. At the beginning of the 12th century, the abbey was annexed to the Camaldolese Order; either the monastic facilities and the church were restored and renovated.
At the end of the 15th century, the Camaldolese Order renounced to take care of the abbey. It was the start of the Lay Abbots’ age, with members of important noble households managing the abbey as a profitable property. Between the mid 16th and 17th centuries, the monastic facilities were renovated and embellished. The church was modified as well: a new façade and new altars were built and new altarpieces were commissioned.
Traditionally, the restoration design was by Bartolomeo Ammannati; recent studies are checking such attribution. 
In 1627, the old church of San Giusto partly crumbled onto the crags, hence it was transferred to the church of San Salvatore.
Around the second half of the 18th century, further interventions on the whole complex were documented. In particular, the choir and the church tribune were rebuilt and the nave vault was restored. Abbot Inghirami had the façade mended, by then separated from the rest of the church building.

Once, works by Giotto, Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Mascagni, De Witte and Franceschini were kept inside the monastery; they partly got lost, as in the case of the ancient frescoes decorating the church interior, partly alienated during suppressions occurred between the 18th and the 19th  centuries, partly transferred to museums.
Nonetheless, still in place inside the refectory walls are some frescoes illustrating stories from Saint Giusto’s life, by the painter Donato Mascagni.
A number of sculptural and architectural finds belonging to the church of San Salvatore and the old church of San Giusto are today walled in the halls of Museo Guarnacci and of the Museum of Sacred Art, Volterra.
A comprehensive collection of manuscripts, documents and incunabula, once belonging to the monastery, is guarded inside the Guarnacci Municipal Library, at the heart of the old centre.

In 1819, the vault underneath the monks’ dormitory (next to the bell tower) collapsed. This worsened the already bad static condition of the monastery and of the church roofs. The monks, though, had sufficient financial resources to take proper measures.
On the 15th November, a survey by engineers Pasetti and Ristori was started to face the issues posed by the crags; on 4th December 1819, the architect Gaetano Baccani was also asked to give his opinion on the church. It was in a very bad state, threatened by the crags and badly founded, with overhanging walls, open vaults and disconnected walls. The intercolumns of the church nave and aisles were out of axis. Baccani decided to repair the masonry and build three buttresses on the external northern side of the church.
In 1861, notwithstanding such measures, the monks were forced to leave the complex because of the fast advancement of crags. In 1866, the Italian government decreed the suppression of the monastery, which was ceded to private owners.
In 1895 the nave cover collapsed, leaving the church unroofed since then. 
In 1936, the Municipality of Volterra proscribed the access to the crumbling parts of the former monastic church, confining its ruins by means of a steady enclosure. The Municipality ordered to reinforce the bell tower and to take measures for the crumbling façade.
The complex has been recently put in compliance with safety measures by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Volterra, owner of the property along with the State.

A. Furiesi, E. Veracini, “Santissimo Salvatore presso la Badia Camaldolese. Storia e architettura”, in A. Furiesi, U. Bavoni, P. G. Bocci, Chiese di Volterra, Pontedera, Bandecchi e Vivaldi, vol. III, 2008, pp.119-156.
La Badia Camaldolese, a cura di A. Furiesi, con testo di D.Ulivieri, Pisa, Felici, 2008.