Founded in 1051 and placed under the protection of Lorenzo de’ Medici in the 15th century, it remained property of the Vallombrosan Benedictine monks until 1810 when it was transformed into a villa-farm, though preserving its original function of farming facility.

The garden revisits the layout of the old hortus conclusus: the geometrically arranged beds have box hedges, aromatic and officinal plants. In the middle of the garden there is a rectangular-shaped pool in pietra serena. The vast white fir woods surrounding the abbey are the fruit of reforestation by the monks which continued even in the 19th century. Next to the Abbey stands a cedar of Lebanon of impressive dimensions (20 metres in height, and a trunk circumference of about 7 metres in diameter), which appears on the list of monumental plants of the Region of Tuscany. Many more monumental plants of considerable botanical value can be found in the surrounding area.