The slender pointed bell tower of this Benedictine abbey, founded in A.D. 978, is one of the landmarks of the Florentine skyline. Sadly, the bells Dante wrote of in his Paradiso no longer toll the hours. Serious structural problems have silenced the tower. In the now-baroque interior, some say Dante first laid eyes on his beloved Beatrice, and Boccaccio, of Decameron fame, used to lecture on Dante's Divine Comedy here. The church's most arresting sight is a 1485 Filippino Lippi painting of the Madonna Appearing to St. Bernard. The box to shed light on it parcels out a measly 10 seconds for each coin, so feed it only the smallest pieces. For a nominal "donation," the sacristan will throw on the lights to the trompe l'oeil ceiling.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Florence, Tuscany & Umbria, 6th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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