Hidden Monastery · Renaissance Frescoes · Near Pienza
Sant'Anna in Camprena
A hidden monastery with Sodoma frescoes — and a starring role in The English Patient
Hidden among cypress trees and wheat fields a few kilometres south of Pienza, the Abbazia di Sant'Anna in Camprena is one of the best-kept secrets of the Val d'Orcia. Founded in 1324 by the Olivetan order (a branch of the Benedictines), it sat in semi-obscurity for centuries until two things brought it international attention: the extraordinary fresco cycle painted in its refectory by Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, known as Il Sodoma, around 1503–1504; and its role as one of the principal filming locations for Anthony Minghella's The English Patient (1996), which brought the monastery's cloister and refectory to cinema screens worldwide.
Il Sodoma
The Miracle of Loaves and Fishes — in Tuscany
The refectory of Sant'Anna in Camprena is entirely decorated with frescoes by Il Sodoma, one of the most gifted painters of the Italian High Renaissance. The centrepiece is a large Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, set against a recognisable Tuscan landscape with hills, cypress trees, and the kind of golden afternoon light you can see from the monastery windows today. Il Sodoma worked at the monastery over several months; the result is a cycle of extraordinary freshness and naturalism, far from the mannered artifice that was beginning to dominate Italian painting in the same years. The frescoes are in remarkable condition and can be visited with a small guided tour.
The English Patient
Cinema in a Monastery
Anthony Minghella chose Sant'Anna in Camprena as the Tuscan hospital where Count Almásy (Ralph Fiennes) is cared for by the nurse Hana (Juliette Binoche) in The English Patient (1996). The cloister, the refectory with its Sodoma frescoes, and the surrounding landscape all appear in the film, which won nine Academy Awards including Best Picture. If you have seen the film, walking through the cloister is a strange and wonderful experience — the same stone, the same cypress trees, the same particular quality of Tuscan afternoon light. If you have not seen the film, the monastery is worth visiting anyway. Then watch the film that evening.
Practical Information
- Location
- Loc. Camprena, near Pienza (SI)
- GPS
- 43.0590° N, 11.6820° E (approximate)
- From Pienza
- 5 km east-south (10 min by car, 20 min by bicycle)
- Fresco visits
- Guided tours — contact the monastery in advance
- Agriturismo
- Rooms available for stays; contact via the monastery website
- Access road
- Unpaved dirt road for the last 1 km; accessible by car
Gallery