Arguably one of Central Italy’s most spectacular hermitages, San Giovanni all’Orfento is located in a cliff above the wild and protected Orfento Valley, one of the nature reserves within the Majella National Park in Abruzzo. Peter of Morrone, the famous Pope Celestine V (who, as a former hermit, resigned from his position only to be later imprisoned by his successor Boniface VIII), is said to have retired here between 1284 and 1293. His goal was to seek solitude in an inaccessible place with his most loyal followers. The two-room hermitage…
