“William of Maleval (or William the Great) (died 10 February 1157) was the founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites, a branch of theHermits of St. Augustine. He was beatified in 1202.” (WIKI 2016)
Maleval, is in the territory of Castiglione della Pescaia.
Location of monastic ruins.
The Starting point of the walk to visit the ruins is easily reachable by bicycle or car and is about 1 km from the centre of castiglione della Pescaia. The walk takes around two hours and is fairly easy. The road to the ruins is clearly marked with red and white way markers (path 101) and is covered with with smalls stones so can be accessed all year. Our visit was in spring time when the surrounding fields were in full bloom.
William of Maleval was originally a knight that had carried out many crusades but returned to Italy after his conversion and became a hermit. He initially in habited nearby Buriano, where he experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary. His experience and miracles that he performed led him to look for a life of calm in the “Bad Valley”. His presence started a monastic order that survived for 700 years afterwards.
The signs around the ruins give a description of what took place there, including on the way up a stone which is where the saint was said to pray when he walked out of the valley.
