The ex-Camaldolese abbey of San Pietro is found along the road connecting Gambassi Terme to Certaldo.
Historical sources tell that the first hermitage was built between 1059 and 1072. The Camaldolese stayed there until 1421, when Pope Martin V joined it with the Cistern monastery of Saint Mary of the Angels in Florence. It was permanently suppressed in 1652, even if pastoral services have always been held for the community of Badia a Cerreto.
If it wasn’t for the small cross that stands out where the roof pitches meet, the façade of San Pietro would say little about its religious function. Modest and covered in white plaster, it is easily mistaken for a home, and it seems impossible that for over three centuries it could have held The Crowning of the Virgin by Lorenzo Monaco, one of the masterpieces of the Florentine Renaissance, now kept at the Uffizi. The altarpiece came from the monastery of Saint Mary of the Angels in Florence, where Lorenzo Monaco took his vows, and when it was given back, the church of Badia a Cerreto received a painting by Francesco Soderini, a Virgin and Child with Saints Monica and Agostino, dated 1726.
Inside, the ceiling with wooden trusses rests on eight pilasters surmounted by capitals in sandstone, sculpted with botanic motifs. The rectangular layout has been shortened, starting from the presbytery. Today, the buildings of the ex-monastery are private residences.
