The Abbey of San Salvatore a Settimo is considered one of the most important historical evidences in Scandicci, also because of its origins dating to the X century. It has recently been restored after it was seriously damaged during the Second World War.

The monastic complex has been documented since 988. At that time, the Abbey of San Salvatore a Settimo was also the central nucleus of the territorial administration and of the public life. In effect, it was thanks to the monks that reclamation works were made on the alluvial valley of the Arno, thus allowing the rise of the first rural settlements near the abbey, from where the existing town of Scandicci developed later.
In the first years of the XI century, the abbey belonged to the Cadolingi, the feudatories of the lower Valdarno, who came from Pistoia. Yet, in 1004, the Benedictines monks of Cluny got the ownership of the complex.
In 1060, this order joined the reform of the Vallombrosa that the dissident Benedictine monk Givanni Gualberto begun. In 1157, also a chapel dedicated to San Quintino Martire, where the saint's relics were carried to, was built. Since 1236, the Abbey became a property of the Cistercians of San Galgano, who occupied it until 1732. They fortified the complex in the XIV century, characterized by a widespread process of "fortification" of villages, parishes and monasteries, involving the whole Florentine area.
The XIV-century defensive structure of the Abbey is still quite visible today. Nevertheless, this structure was also enriched with precious works during the years, such as the frescoes by the Buffalmacco in the chapel of San Iacopo (1315), the works by Domenico Ghirlandaio and the "Deposizione dalla Croce " by Francesco Botticini. They all operated in the XV century. In the first half of the XVII century, Giovanni da San Giovanni frescoed the chapel of San Quintino.
Also church of San Salvatore and San Lorenzo makes part of the complex. This is a Romanesque church which was much modified by the Cistercians between the XIII and the XVIII centuries. This can be seen from the rose window on the façade that is typical of the buildings realized by the above-mentioned monastic order. Inside, it keeps a "Martirio di San Lorenzo", realized in 1574 by Domenico Buti, two medallions by Ghirlandaio dating to the end of the XV century and a tabernacle by Giuliano da Maiano. The chapel of San Quintino and the one of San Iacopo are inside the church of the saints Salvatore and Lorenzo.