There is a real sword, dating back to the XII century, plunged into a stone.
It is located in a strange round chapel in Tuscany, 30 km south from Siena, in the middle of a wild and lonely hill region.
Near this chapel there are the magic ruines of a wonderful abbey, with no roof and with grass on the ground.
The Sword is that of St Galgano: a knight, later a hermit, still later a saint.

What is the meaning of the incredible coincidences between Galgano and King Arthur's cycle?
This Saint was a dissolute young man, who after dreaming of St Michael decided to become a knight.

St Michael during this vision led him to a strange trip over a river, a cavern, a round building where Galgano sees the Majesty of God. Something described only years later in the Parsifal. After a second dream, he gave up violence and war, and simbolically stuck his sword into a rock. The sword's handle, turned upside down, resembles a christian cross.
And Galgano sounds like Galvano (Galwain) one of the knight of the Round Table.

In 2001 I coordinated a number of scientific investigations to shed light on St Galgano and his sword.
Brick samples were taken from the chapel and from other buildings (added during the following centuries) and dated by thermoluminescence analysis to confirm their supposed age.
Ground-penetrating radar analysis revealed that beneath the floor near the sword there is an artificial structure (2 m by 1 m), possibly a burial recess. (only Galgano’s skull is known and venerated. His grave is not known, and there are no other relics)
Organic relics (wood pieces, timbers from a roof, and a pair of mummified hands) have been carbon-dated.
And the Sword - that had been broken in two pieces by a fool and fixed with some concrete - was pulled out, inspected and analyzed.

Thus summarizing, in the same story one has : the sword in the stone, king Arthur, a knight, a hermit, a saint, fascinating ruines, mummified hands, Templar knights, a skull of the saint, a lost and found grave, scientific analyses, carbon dating, etc.... and a Dr Garlaschelli pulling out the “Sword in the Stone.”

A Company of Archaeological investigations in 2004 will dig the grave for us- for free! (they love this story too)

Furthermore, last year Dr Garlaschelli took part to an investigation of still another knight-hermit-saint: st William of Malavalle. This one died when Galgano was still a kid, and became a saint near Grosseto (80 km away from Galgano's chapel)
Legends say that before becoming a hermit, he was William X of Aquitaine: the grandfather of Eleonor of Aquitaine, the queen of the Troubadours... (remember the movie “The Lion in Winter”)
Could he be the link between Tuscany's Sword in the Stone and the Arthurian cycle?
A team has analyzed his bones to determine his sex, age, health, kind of meals, etc and they did even an attempt of facial reconstruction and of DNA analysis.
Dr Garlaschelli has analyzed some iron relics associated with his bones: an iron ring mail, a penitence belt, a penitence helmet, an alabard, etc.

St William even slayed a dragon and is represented with the beast (its bone is near his relics – but it has been identified as a whale's rib).
(By the way, as a side investigation, Dr Garlaschelli has found out and identified the skull of a mysterious animal, presented as the last dragon of the Middle Age. It is located in a ruined monastry in Tuscany- however it is not related with St William, as the beast was killed in 1488.