San Fiorenzo
To be visited
Localita: San Fiorenzo
The rural hermitage with an adjoining oratory rises at 1100 meters of altitude. In the 5th and 6th century, the remote and rugged area where it is built was the core of an intense hermitic presence, mainly thanks to the settling thereby of Syrian monks who were fleeing the persecutions and struggles related to the great councils of the East.
The caves once used as cells by the hermits Eutizio and Fiorenzo are still visible today, dug into the travertine cliff (locally called Sponga rock) and surrounded by dense maple and hornbeam woods. Nearby was a spring, poorly captured in recent times to supply water to the underlying village of Valle. The small hermitage and the chapel dedicated to Saint Fiorenzo were built in stone near the caves in the 10th century.
For some years now, after centuries of oblivion, the ancient hermitage has come back to life thanks to the presence of a hermit, "come from afar": a young Polish man named Tadeusz who has chosen to live as a hermit in the homeland of Saint Benedict.
Thanks to Tadeusz' patient masonry work, the holy place is regaining its simple beauty: the hermit has already restored the chapel and created a tiny room where he lives. Two small solar panels provide the energy to light his cell, while a wood stove serves to keep him warm during the long winter months.
For further information
https://www.iluoghidelsilenzio.it/eremo-di-san-fiorenzo-preci/
