Distance: Km 15
Estimated time: 4 h
Departure: Lutirano
Intermediate stages: Badia della Valle
Arrival: Hermitage of S. Barnaba in Gamogna
N.B .: in Gamogna there will be no opportunity to buy food. Buy in Lutirano the necessary to reach Modigliana the day after.
Description of the stage
The approach to Badia della Valle begins by retracing the beginning of Via di Valle Acerreta from which it was previously reached; walking on the asphalt road you reach Badia della Valle after about 2.5 km. After a visit to the 11th century Abbey, go back and take Via Gordigiani (road with a sign indicating “Volo del Nibbio” and follow it to the Cavallara pass (2.5 km).
When you reach the pass, near the monument to the fallen Sikhs, take the path CAI 583; Follow it until it intersects the path CAI 521 which then flows into the dirt road that is crossed by the nuns of Gamogna to reach the Hermitage and continue until the arrival.
Interesting sites
Abbey of San Giovanni Battista in Acereto (Badia della Valle)
The Abbey of San Giovanni Battista in Acereto (Badia della Valle) was founded in 1053 by San Pier Damiani. Together with the nearby Hermitage of Gamogna it belonged to the Camaldolese Congregation of the Order of San Benedetto. The founder, San Pier Damiani, was a theologian, bishop and cardinal of the Catholic Church who venerates him as a saint. Since 1823 he is also considered one of the Doctors of the Church.
Dante Alighieri, in the Divine Comedy, places him in the seventh heaven of Paradise. Recently renovated by the Catani family who have made it a comfortable agriturismo for groups.
Hermitage of San Barnaba in Gamogna
The Hermitage of Gamogna is located in the Alpe di San Benedetto, at the foot of Monte Gamogna. It is an ancient monastic complex founded by San Pier Damiani in 1053 and recently renovated by the diocese of Faenza – Modigliana and managed by the Monastic Fraternity of Jerusalem. The new structure is composed of the church that maintains the original Romanesque structure, with a simple gabled façade, a large semicircular apse with a conical roof covered with slate slabs, a bell tower, the cloister, the monks’ cells, the oven, the stable and the dryer. The hermitage that was founded by San Pier Damiani in 1053 and dedicated to San Barnaba, to welcome the Camaldolesi monks of the Badia di Acereta or Badia della Valle. Gamogna bears witness to the reform of the Benedictine order which was born five centuries earlier, necessitated a call to greater spirituality and a return to evangelical poverty. The choice of a place like Gamogna to find a hermitage also included other factors: the strategic location between Romagna and Tuscany and along a route already traveled by pilgrims who needed assistance. It was closed due to the lack of monks and turned into a parish church later because of the depopulation of the mountain was also closed as a parish. A careful restoration has restored it to its authentic splendor. The Hermitage is currently managed by the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem, in a decidedly international environment, which propose to spend one or more days of austere spiritual retreat, sharing everything: prayer, table, simple manual work, silence.
Other links
Proseguendo attraverso le foreste Casentinesi si può raggiungere le cascate dell’Acquacheta in 6 ore, l’eremo di Camaldoli in 18 ore e La Verna in 30 ore.
Referenti
Continuing through the Casentinesi forests you can reach the Acquacheta waterfalls in 6 hours, the hermitage of Camaldoli in 18 hours and La Verna in 30 hours.
