The oldest document concerning the abbey is its necrological register from which it is possible to extract information on the internal life of the monastery. On 15 May of an unspecified year of the 11th century, the bishop of Florence Lamberto died here, who had entered it as a simple monk in 1032, also know that at that time the organization of the monastery was entrusted to an abbot, such as John who died on 19 March, and a hospital was in operation whose custodian was the lay brother Erito who died on 23 April, and also a mill run by the lay brother Azzo who died on 24 April; A totally exceptional case and proof of a very early penetration of painting in the Valdelsa is the presence in the abbey of a certain Bonitio pictor who died on May 31st. The aggregation to the Vallombrosan reform took place between 1073 and 1076; in the chapters of the order summoned in 1095 and 1100 the prior of the hermitage of Conèo was present and in the necrological register it appears that on January 15, 1086, Pietro monk from Vallombrosan and bishop of Pistoia and his brother Placido died here [1]. After the transition to the Vallombrosan order it was decided to build a new abbey church, a church whose construction certainly began after May 5, 1108 and which was dedicated to Santa Maria and consecrated in 1124 in the presence of the bishops of Volterra, Anagni and Acqui . The bishop of Volterra was also the owner of the monastery and we know that in the mid-twelfth century it was ruled by an abbot named Ugo [3] who was confirmed in his role on 23 April 1179 by Pope Alexander III and in 1195 the abbot was called Ildebrando. In the period between the 12th and 13th centuries, the abbot of Conèo often held roles of great importance in the Colligiana society and often received donations from it: on 25 June 1197 the abbot Bonato received as a gift some goods placed in Montegabbro and Circiniano by a rich man from Colle and his wife in the presence of Buoninsegna consul of the municipality of Colle [3]; again in 1224 the abbot of Conèo was called to act as judge and peacemaker in a dispute between the friar minor Paolo and the archpriest Zanghello to establish who should preach in the Colligiane churches [3]. In 1254 to settle the debts contracted by the bishop of Volterra towards the Sienese bankers, the abbey of Conèo was forced to pledge its assets to the latter but despite this at the end of the 13th century the abbey’s revenues were enormous and completely comparable to other rich Valdelsan monasteries as evidenced by the tithes paid in 1276 which amounted to 23 lire and 7 soldi, a figure that rose to 35 lire the following year while between 1296 and 1303 they paid almost 35 lire every year
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Throughout the first half of the 13th century the monastery was subjected to the Lords of Picchena, who on 14 December 1324 had the new abbot nominated who received an oath of allegiance from the rectors of the churches of Santa Margherita a Dometaio, San Pietro a Montegabbro, dei Santi Giusto and Andrea in Picchena and the prior of the Badia del Sale, all churches dependent on Conèo. Afterwards, relations with the Lords of Picchena became difficult and the abbey asked for help from the Florentine Republic, which interested in expanding into the area was happy to intervene. A first intervention was made on January 22, 1354, admonishing the Picchenas for the offenses made to the monastery since
“To its workers and families by insulting and banning the farms”
but the Picchena family did not have to heed the advice given that on 10 August 1355 the men of Conèo turned to the Florentines, reporting that
“Those from Picchena keep the abbot of Conèo from the abbot”
Between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the abbey began to decline and was given in command but it was not an excellent choice since in 1427
“The commendatory took little or no interest in maintaining the factories, and only an abbot, a monk salaried with 8 lire per year, and an infantryman with 12 lire were maintained”
In the sixteenth century the commenda also passed to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, the future Pope Paul III, and to the humanists Paolo Cortesi and Aonio Paleario. In 1576 the old abbey had become a parish on which 30 families depended for about 150 inhabitants [8] and owned assets for 400 ducats and whose patrons were first Giovanni Francesco Lottini bishop of Conversano then to Giuliano Marucelli, relative of the cardinal Farnese and finally to the Pistoian abbot Lelio Tolomei. After the creation of the diocese of Colle Val d’Elsa, the church became a dependence and was elevated to a parish with 7 suffragan churches. The inhabitants of the parish of Coneo were constantly increasing, so much so that in the mid-eighteenth century it was considered necessary to carry out some adaptation works that affected both the interior and the exterior. The church was completely restored between 1920 and 1922, on that occasion with the economic contribution of the municipality of Colle all baroque additions were removed and the building was restored.
