The Abbey of Sant'Antimo, stood at the foot of a hill covered with dense vegetation, lies some 40 Km. south of Siena. Tradition has it that the founding of imperial abbey of Sant'Antimo is to be attribuited to Charles the Great even though the first documentation dates back to a deed of the Emperor Ludovico il Pio in year 813. During the ninth century, thanks to imperial donation and the purchase of the relics of Saint Antony, the abbey consolidated its prestige and in eleventh century, due to its close vicinity to the Via Francigena, it found itself inserted into the system of the great European pilgrinage itineraries. During the years immediatly following 1117 the new abbey church was erected to replace the old one, the so-called Carolingia Chapel, which is still visible today. It began to decline in the 14th century and was formally dissolved in 1462.