A short trek from the small town of Raiano, in the Italian region of Abruzzo, the narrow gorges of the Aterno river carve their way through the rugged mountains that rise above. Nestled on a rocky outcrop and partly built across the gorges is a medieval hermitage named after Saint Venantius, martyr and patron of the university town of Camerino. Like other sites around Abruzzo, hermits and religious figures inspired by the life of Pope Celestine V (the hermit-Pope Peter) fashioned hermitages, chapels, and small sanctuaries out of the rocky…
