Camaldoli is a frazione

Frazione

A frazione , in Italy, is the name given in administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a comune; for other administrative divisions, see municipio, circoscrizione, quartiere...

of the comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

of Poppi

Poppi

Poppi is a comune in the Province of Arezzo in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 40 km east of Florence and about 30 km northwest of Arezzo....

, in Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It is mostly known as the ancestral seat of the Camaldolese

Camaldolese

The Camaldolese monks and nuns are part of the Benedictine family of monastic communities which follow the way of life outlined in the Rule of St. Benedict, written in the 6th century...

 monastic order, originated in the eponymous hermitage, which can still be visited.

The Holy Hermitage and Monastery of Camaldoli is situated in an ancient forest in the Tuscan Apennines. It was founded about 1023 by Saint Romuald, a Benedictine monk, with the permission of Tedald, Bishop of Arezzo

Tedald, Bishop of Arezzo

Tedald , also known as Theodald, Theodaldus, Tedaldus, Tedaldo, or Teodaldo, was the forty-third Bishop of Arezzo from 1023 until his death....

.

In the monastery of Camaldoli there is a welcoming room, a great hall, and an old style pharmacy. The pharmacy was originally a laboratory where monks studied and worked with medicinal herbs. These medicines would be used in the old hospital which can still be visited today. The precious walnut decor dates back to 1543. The church, meanwhile, was constructed in the Baroque style and contains works by Giorgio Vasari

Giorgio Vasari

Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect, who is famous today for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:...

. It was established to deal with the ever-growing number of pilgrims - drawn by good reports of the monks, and for reflection in the middle of the forest.

A few kilometers farther up the mountain is the "Sacred Hermitage

Hermitage (religious retreat)

Although today's meaning is usually a place where a hermit lives in seclusion from the world, hermitage was more commonly used to mean a settlement where a person or a group of people lived religiously, in seclusion.-Western Christian Tradition:...

," or Sacro Eremo which is the more ancient part of the foundation. It was personally established by St. Romuald and has served as the heart of both the community and the order, which bears the location's name.

External links

• http://www.camaldoli.it/web_en/ca_storia/ca_storia00.htm
• http://www.camaldoliospitalita.it/inglese/camaldoli.html