Hermitage and convent of Monteluco Spoleto
This hermitage is a spiritual place, a nice reward after the tiring climb up Valnerina. The place (literally, “clearing in the woods where sunlight comes in”) was actually a sacred wood for the Romans. In the 5th century, between the evergreen oaks and around a hundred tree species, the community of hermits who had fled Syria settled there.
According to tradition, Francis received the small chapel of Saint Catherine from the Benedictine monks in 1218 it is the oldest part of the hermitage.
Inside, one can still see the old cells of the monks. The simplicity of the materials used and the narrowness of the cells are the most striking, but also the most rigorous, testimony to the meaning of Franciscan poverty.