The Co-cathedral of SS. Marziale and Alberto in Colle Val d'Elsa

How the Nail reached Colle

Memories dating back long ago tell that the relic of the Holy Nail came to Colle di Val d’Elsa from Rome in the ninth century as a precious legacy from a French bishop. In the years after the death of Charlemagne, during a period of intense contacts between the Holy See and the Holy Roman Empire, the French bishop received the precious relic directly from the pope’s hands to take back to his homeland. During his return trip to France, somewhere around Viterbo, the bishop fell gravely ill, and before dying gave the nail to his traveling companion, a priest from Bibbiano.
From that moment the relic was the property of the priest, who took it to Bibbiano, not far from Colle di Val d’Elsa, where he took careful care of it until, on his deathbed, he decided to donate it to the first of the two towns, Colle and San Gimignano, to arrive there and claim it. Without hesitation, as soon as they heard the news, the people of Colle formed a procession and reached the priest before the people of San Gimignano, thus receiving the precious relic which they then took back to their city. Since then Colle has been the faithful custodian of the sacred relic, which was first placed in the ancient Pieve a Elsa. In the late twelfth century the archpriest Albert of Chiatina, one of the most illustrious devotees of the Holy Nail, for security reasons moved the relic to the chapel of the Pieve di San Salvatore, which is now the Co-cathedral.
The tradition that has been handed down tells us that he was an excellent priest, very capable in bringing the most lukewarm souls closer to God, an excellent confessor and preacher.
His death, which occurred after atrocious bodily suffering borne with exemplary patience, greatly increased his fame and the devotion of the people of Colle towards their archpriest, to the point that in some documents dated not long after his death, the Holy Nail is called Blessed Albert’s Nail.