STRUMI, ABBEY OF

Former Vallombrosan monastery in the Casentino district, two miles from Poppi, Italy, in the province and Diocese of Arezzo. It was founded at Strumi in the 10th century by Count Teugrimo of the Guidi family and was dedicated to San Fedele. About the end of the 11th century the original benedictines were replaced by vallom brosans, whose first abbot was Andrew of Strumi, and the eighth, John of Strumi, who was made antipope under the name Callistus III by Emperor frederick barba rossa. The old abbey was abandoned by the monks towards the end of the 12th century as struggles between guelfs and ghibellines rendered its position hazardous; a new one was erected at Poppi, and likewise dedicated to San Fedele. Monastic life flourished there until the 15th century when the abbey was granted in com mendation to the bishop of Florence. It was restored to Vallombrosan control in 1510; it was suppressed in 1809. The church of San Fedele still exists at Poppi; its valuable paintings include one on wood that is a Madonna of the 13th-century Tuscan school. Of the original abbey at Strumi there remain only a few traces of the foundations and the choir of the church, now used as a farmhouse.

Bibliography: Chartularium abbatiae Strumensis (Poppi, Biblioteca comunale, cod. 36, 13th cent. MS). Chartularium Puppiense (Florence Archivio di Stato, conventi soppressi, v.227, 18th cent. MS). p. f. kehr, Regesta Pontificum Romanorum. Italia Pontifia, 8 v. (Berlin 1906–35) 3:169–170. g. domenici, "La badia di S. Fedele di Strumi presso Poppi," Rivista storica benedettina 10 (1915) 72–92. l. h. cottineau, Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon 1935–39) 2:2337–38, 3097.

[s. olivieri]