In the Casentino valley, at the foot of the Apennine's part that divide Romagna from Toscana, is collocated the monastic structure of Camaldoli (sec IX).

San Romualdo, founder of the Camaldoli order, arrived in that place in 1012 with some disciples and here constructed , to 1111 m, the fist five cells, each surrounded by their own vegetable-garden and a small chapel.

Binding together the cenobico lifestyle (communitarian life) to that anacoretico (solitary life), the monks realized therefore the equilibrium between solitude and communitarian life. After wards San Romualdo constructed , in the valley below, one house in order to receive the hosts and the pilgrims. On the bases of this hospice later was erected the Monastery, where has started the Benedictine reform

The Monastery is still immersed in a flourishing scenery, and appears as a big and ponderous construction. Inside the structure You can find two cloisters, the refectory, the guest-rooms and the monks' cells. The actual church, constructed on the ruins of the ancient sacred structures, has been modernized in 1700 and still preserves inside, 5 tables painted by Vasari.

Very interesting is also the Old Pharmacy of the Monastery, constructed in the 1543, furnished with beautiful walnut cupboard and with old objects used by the monks for the preparation of medicines.

Another important and suggestive part of the Hermitage is the forest of Camaldoli that provided the wood for the construction of the dome of S. Maria del Fiore of Brunelleschi and for the construction of the big fleet of the Medici.

http://www.camaldoli.it/en_index.htm