The “Badia”, is the Benedictine convent of Santa Maria, situated on the plateau that slopes gently down to the river Cecina, along the ancient pilgrim route, in the territory of modern Montescudaio. This convent was one of the many ecclesiastical foundations that appeared in 10th century Tuscany. Though remaining under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishop of Volterra, it acquired much property and many rights in Montescudaio and the surrounding territory from its founder’s descendants.

Around the middle of the 15th century, following the area’s incorporation into the Florentine state, the convent lost its role as socio-political co-ordinator. However, it retained its economic importance which derived from its landed property. Its final abandonment probably occurred in the 18th century following the abolition of the monastic body.
The convent structures develop over an area situated on a vast plateau, characterised by a slight downslope to the north. At present it is possible to distinguish the area of the central cloister, surrounded on at least three sides by the walled remains of the complex; the church and adjoining cemetery area, situated to the north of the cloister; the southern part made up of service structures.

The sectors investigated in the cloister area correspond to rooms with various functions. The first room examined, situated to the west (sector 2000) seemed to have been used for storage at least between the 13th and 14th centuries. The corridor present in both sectors 2100 and 1500 was used as a roofed cemetery between the 15th and 16th centuries and the area immediately east of this (1700) seemed to have been the capitulary room, at least in the 14th and 15th centuries.

The convent church (area 1000) had a single nave, on an east-west alignment, characterised by a substantial apsidal space linked to a side chapel, perhaps coinciding with the ground floor room of a bell-tower. It was not possible to identify the main entrance with certainty as it was situated on the side of the building that was obliterated by a collapse. At the bottom of several recent illegally dug holes an earlier apse could be seen which seemed to link to part of the northern perimeter wall to form a smaller church. This was probably the church attested before the foundation of the monastic complex in 1901. The cemetery area for lay people, as well as occupying the entire northern corridor of the cloister, seemed to extend around the north and west (in front of the façade) sides of the church.

The out-buildings, with the better preserved walls (standing to a height of circa 1m) were situated in the zone south of the cloister. However, it was not possible to define the spatial organisation due to the cover of vegetation and collapses which made visibility difficult without undertaking an excavation. (MiBAC)