The Romanesque abbey of S. Martino in Campo (220 meters above sea level) in the Municipality of Capraia limit, is located along the street that in the Middle Ages was an important link between the Montalbano and the lower Artimino and the area of Empoli and Montelupo.
The church, established in the first half of the eleventh century by the Benedictines, was almost completely rebuilt in the twelfth century, following a collapse. This restructuring led to a reduction of its original length and the creation of a single central apse, which is inspired by models from Pisa and is characterized, at the bottom, by ten blind arches that rest on shelves now at half-hour decorated with motifs incised, and, at the top, by a cylindrical surface decorated with arches dating back to the system Benedictine.
Of the original structure (XI century), the foundation walls of the three apses emerge from the ground level outside the church, and that of a bell tower typical of the Lombard-Ravenna area, replaced now by one sail-shaped.
In the fifteenth century, as a result of land subsidence, it was eliminated the left aisle whose absence contributes to the church appearing asymmetrical.
The interior is very bare, contains fragments of stone (an architrave decorated with engravings and two figured capitals) attributed to Lombard workers of the eleventh century and a fresco Madonna col Bambino in trono, tra i Santi Giovanni Gualberto, Benedetto o Agostino, Niccolò e Maddalena of about 1420.
For more: C. Cerretelli, Prato e la sua provincia, Prato 2003, pp. 376-377.
