The arrival of the three saints
In the 11th century, shortly after the conclusion of the First Crusade, a hermit saint came from the territories of Jerusalem to the wild woods of the Maremma. He chose a hidden clearing between Mount Stella and Mount Tavolone, near Scarlino, as his refuge and built a simple hut there, erecting a cross on the roof as a symbol of his faith. His isolation, however, did not last long: soon two other hermit saints joined him, attracted perhaps by the lure of that sacred solitude. They too built their humble dwellings, also topped by the cross, forming a small, devoted community.
Construction and destruction of the convent
As the centuries passed, after the 13th century, the memory of those three hermit saints remained alive in the hearts of the local people. It was thus decided to erect a convent in the same place where those saints had spent their days of prayer and silence. However, the life of the convent was not easy: raids and assaults constantly threatened the tranquility of that sacred place, until one day, the convent was set on fire. The monks who lived there were captured and enslaved, marking the end of that peaceful experience.
Love and jealousy
Years later, a rich and beautiful young woman, always dressed in white, decided to revive that place. Known later as the White Lady, she wanted to build a new dwelling on the ruins of the convent, where she hoped to live a life of serene solitude together with her beloved husband, far from the jealousy she felt in the city. In that remote and quiet place, far from the world, the two spent happy days immersed in idyllic peace.
Death and legend
Over time, however, the beloved felt imprisoned by that isolated life and by the White Lady’s jealousy. One night, he took the horse and fled, never to return. The Lady, heartbroken and devoured by grief, shut herself up in her rooms, refusing all contact with the world until she was consumed in loneliness and despair, finally dying within those walls at the same moment when a strong wind blew the bell of the now destroyed convent. Since that day, legend has it that, during some nights, a figure dressed in white can be glimpsed riding a steed of the same color, while her heartbreaking wails are heard accompanied by the faint and distant sound of a bell.