CAMALDOLI - CODE: TEDCMLD

Qui è Maccario, qui è Romoaldo,

qui son li frati miei che dentro ai chiostri

fermar li piedi e tennero il cor saldo.

(Pd., canto XXII)

 

«Oh!», rispuos’elli, «a piè del Casentino

traversa un’acqua c’ha nome l’Archiano,

che sovra l’Ermo nasce in Apennino.

(Pg., canto V)

 

The famous Monastic complex of Camaldoli (11th century) is composed of a Hermitage and a Monastery; it lies at the foot of the Apennine chain dividing Romagna and Tuscany, in the heart of the Casentino Forests National Park. The Monastery also includes a guest-house, a large chapter house, an apothecary or galenic laboratory, where monks would work the spices and medicinal plants to treat the sick in the old "hospital". The current pharmacy, with fine walnut furniture, dates back to 1543. Inside, you can purchase herbal products made by the monks of the hermitage. In the Baroque style church, you'll find works by Vasari.

 

The Hermitage is not too far away, founded by Ambrogio Traversari shortly after the Monastery was founded, to welcome monks who wished to leave communal life to live in solitude in the heart of the forest. In the Divine Comedy, the Hermitage is mentioned in the Purgatorio as a place near the source of the Archiano river. for Dante, the river represents the border of the Casentino. Inside the Hermitage, you can visit Saint Romuald's cell, the saint who founded the monastic community of Camaldoli, also mentioned by Dante in Paradiso.