Description
Known in English as St Minas on the Mountain, this superb example of Romanesque architecture was built between 1013-1018. St Miniato was an Armenian prince in the Roman army under Emperor Decius, who was accused of being a Christian after living like a hermit. Brought before the emperor at the Florentine gates, he survived an encounter with a panther in the amphitheater who, legend has it, refused to devour him. He was beheaded but then carried his head over the Arno, and ascended Mons Fiorentinus to his hermitage.