**CAMALDOLI** – A celebrated hermitage situated almost at the summit of the Tuscan-Romagnol Apennines, at an elevation of 1,111 meters above sea level. It derives its name from *Campus amabilis* and *Campus Malduli*. Maldolo was the owner of the Casentino valley who, in 1012, after a vision of a ladder upon which white-robed monks ascended and which rested precisely where the sacred Camaldolese hermitage now stands, donated the land to St. Romuald, as reported in the ancient rules written around 1085.
The layout is characteristic for the individual dwellings of the monks, each separated by a small garden, which later served as models for the future Charterhouse of St. Bruno and other Camaldolese hermitages. The church was consecrated in 1027 in the Romanesque style, almost entirely rebuilt in 1220, transformed into the Baroque style as it appears today in 1658. Among its notable works are a marble bas-relief by Mino da Poppi, two tabernacles by Guido da Settignano, a terracotta by Andrea della Robbia, a papal throne carved from walnut, and a canvas by Augusto Mussini. The library and archive, once exceedingly rich, were depleted by the Napoleonic and Italian suppressions.
The life led there has always been extremely austere. Almost continuous prayer, silence, fasting, and penance have drawn, for more than nine centuries, souls of distinction who have borne witness to Jesus Christ by reliving His mysteries, with no other desire in this world.
The hermitage, traditionally known by the epithet “sacred,” is the mother-house of the Camaldolese Congregation. Popes and emperors enriched it with privileges and donations. Among the former were Alexander II, Paschal II, Gregory IX, Eugene IV, and Leo X; among the latter, Otto IV, Lothair III, Frederick I, Henry VI, Frederick II, Charles IV, and Sigismund. The Republic of Florence placed it under its protection in 1382 and exempted it from taxes in 1446.
About three kilometers lower down, in a ravine between Monte Muschioso (1,157 m) and Monte Cotazzo (1,301 m), lies the monastery of Fontebuono (816 m), so named for its exceptionally fresh and healthful waters, before it appropriated the name of Camaldoli due to a supposed existence there of a “house of Maldolo.” Built, like the sacred hermitage, by St. Romuald around 1015 as a hospice and guesthouse, so that the hermits might devote themselves solely to contemplative life, it was later organized into a proper monastery and called the *Arricchienobio* of Camaldoli.
The large complex comprises: at the center, the church, a 16th-century structure remodeled in the 18th century and adorned internally with works by G. Vasari; on the south side extends the building currently used for spiritual retreats for clergy and Catholic laity; on the north side are the monks’ quarters, the refectory with a large canvas by Pomarancio, and the cloister.
As early as 1520, the monastery had its own printing press, and from 1543 a pharmacy with an attached workshop, furnished with carved furniture, which still produces excellent liqueurs distilled from the herbs and resins of the ancient forest—such as *elixir*, *laurus*, *lacrima d’abete*, and medicinal remedies.
Since 1946, a well-equipped laboratory for book restoration has been in operation there, handling parchments, incunabula, manuscripts, and printed works.
It has rendered distinguished service to letters through its academy (15th century) and to social economy through the cultivation of the great forest, justly called the queen of the Apennine forests; it never neglected works of charity, building and maintaining hospitals and aiding the local poor in various ways. The ancient Camaldolese rules—those of all monasteries dependent on Camaldoli—required that every monastery maintain a hospital with at least thirty free beds for the poor. However, the Napoleonic suppression first, followed by the Italian suppression, nearly extinguished the vitality of this institution, which is now slowly reviving.
Since 1866, the buildings of the hermitage and monastery, along with the forest, have belonged to the state domain. – See Pl. XXVII.