The Cistercian Abbey of San Galgano started life in 1181 perched beside the hermitage on the hill, but things became a bit cramped and prone to slippage, and the lads naturally graduated down the hill to the dank and boggy field below, because draining swamps was what Cistercians did. Then between 1224 and 1288 they built their monastery, including the first Gothic (abbey) church in Italy, now a roofless but well kept ruin.