La Verna and Camaldoli

The sanctuary of The Verna is located on the Tuscan Apennines covered with a monumental forest of beech and fir trees, it is visible from all over Casentino and from the upper Tiberina Valley and has an unmistakable shape with its summit (m 1283) cut to the top by three parts. Above the rock and surrounded by the forest is the large complex of the Sanctuary that inside its massive and articulated architecture preserves numerous treasures of spirituality, art, culture and history.

In the summer of 1224 St. Francis retired to mount Verna for his usual periods of silence and prayer: the event of stigmata and the example of life are the most precious asset that Francis delivers to the friars of Verna. The demanding legacy of St. Francis not only personally involves each friar and becomes also the main message that the community wishes to convey to all those who visit La Verna.

The Camaldoli Monastery is a monastic complex located in the municipality of Poppi, in the heart of the Casentino Forests Park. The architectural complex consists of the ancient Hospice or Guest House, the church and the monastery, erected from 1046, when near the temple the monks built a small hospital. Instead the works for the construction of the sober monastery building that we see today began in the 16th century and ended in 1611.

Among the works of art of the monastery stand out seven tables made by Giorgio Vasari for the previous sixteenth-century building. The main altarpiece depicts the Deposition from the Cross and is located on the altar. Under the balcony gratings from which the monastic choir overlooks there are two other small plates, depicting San Donato and San Ilariano.

The Hermitage is located three kilometers from the Monastery, isolated in the center of the forest, at 1100 meters high: it was founded by San Romualdo in the 11th century and is the home of the Benedictine Congregation of the Camaldolese.
Here you can visit the guest house, which still welcomes guests and pilgrims, the church, the ancient refectory and the cell of San Romualdo, with the typical spiral structure of the hermit cells that includes the bedroom, the study and the chapel.