About
It has unusual carvings and possible traces of the Templar knights, and is a dreamlike medieval church dug into tuff rock.
In the valley of the Fiora river, which springs from the southern flanks of Monte Amiata in Tuscany, medieval hermits carved and chiseled the local tuff rock into sacred places of meditation and spirituality. The Poggio Conte hermitage is the most spectacular of these spiritual sanctuaries because of its bucolic and peaceful setting, its unusual architectural details, and the short hike that's required to reach it. Some believe that the hermits were inspired by the Gothic-Cistercian architecture of the time, and that the interior of the chapel is adorned with certain symbols that are unusual for a Christian house of worship, suggesting they could have originated from the mysterious order of the Templar Knights. The site was also strategically placed close to the border between Tuscany and Papal States and the Via Clodia, an ancient high road built by the Romans.
