Travelling along the road from Siena to the sea, near Civitella Marittima one finds a green and lush valley: this is the Lanzo valley, a small stream on the banks of which we find the remains of what was already a very important monastery in the 11th century.
It was formerly called the Abbey of 'S. Salvatore e S. Lorenzo presso il fiume Anzo', but is better known as Badia Ardenghesca. If you walk or cycle along the ancient road that brought salt to Siena, you see it suddenly appear in a clearing surrounded by cypress trees. The grandeur of the structure and the accuracy of the decorations speak to us of an opulent past in which it welcomed pilgrims and wayfarers, giving us a taste of that fairy-tale Middle Ages linked to mysterious symbols and monstrous figures that still fascinate us today and provoke mysterious stories and legends.