Hermitage of San Colombano

The hermitage of San Colombano

The hermitage of San Colombano ( Italian Eremo di San Colombano ) is located in Trentino in the municipality of Trambileno, just a few kilometers from Rovereto .

location

The impressive hermitage, built on a slightly overhanging rock face, is located in the immediate vicinity of the confluence of the two arms of the Torrente Leno at a narrow point in the Vallarsa valley. The latter branches off at Rovereto in a southeastern direction from the Adige Valley . The building, which is made up of several elements, is located on the orographic left side of the valley about 50 meters above the Leno di Vallarsa. Only a few hundred meters further east of the hermitage is the Lago di San Colombano .

Access is from Strada Statale 46 del Pasubio , from which a road branches off that goes down to the valley floor. From there the path to the hermitage starts.

history

The history of the hermitage can only be partially reconstructed, especially as far as the origins are concerned, and is sometimes mixed up with legends.

According to a common legend, Saint Columban of Luxeuil once killed a dragon here. It is more likely that in the original version of the legend, instead of a dragon, a bear was driven out of a cave. From when this cave, which is actually a rock niche under an overhanging rock wall that can still be seen today, was inhabited cannot be said. The assumption that this was the case from the 9th or 10th century onwards does not find any corresponding evidence.

Even the year AD 735 , which appears in various publications and which can be found on the rock face at the height of the steeple of the church and which is interpreted as dating the site, cannot be retained on closer analysis. The typeface with the written Indian-Arabic numerals was only widespread in Europe much later. This is certainly a misinterpretation, since the writing can also be read as A 1735 , which is the more conclusive reading and can be related to work carried out on the bell tower or on the roof of the building in the 18th century.

A place of worship is mentioned for the first time in writing in the will of Guglielmo di Castelbarco , the most important representative of the noble Castelbarco family, who came from Vallagarina , from the year 1316.

The hermitage from the beginning of the footpath

The emergence of this cult site can be dated back to the 13th century with the help of some frescoes and can be linked to the immigration of German-speaking settlers into the valleys through which the Leno flows, which the Prince-Bishop of Trient Friedrich von Wangen promoted.

The current appearance dates back to the 16th and the following centuries. The chapel of San Colombano was first mentioned in a document in 1580, while the first hermit can only be proven in writing at the end of the 18th century. The last hermit lived on San Colombano from 1750 to 1782, when the hermitages were abolished with the Josephine church reform of 1782.

Then the place passed into changing hands and slowly fell into disrepair. The facility was partially restored at the end of the 1940s. In 1972 and especially in 1996 the building was extensively renovated and restored.

description

The structure consists of several nested structures that adapt to the course of the rock face. The angled structure on different levels, some of which can be reached via steps, allows the conclusion that the original building has undergone significant changes over time. The current appearance goes back to the structural changes that took place in the 16th century.

Access to the Hermitage is via a stone staircase carved into the rock that leads almost from the Leno to the entrance. The large fresco on the outer wall of the chapel, which shows Saint Columban and was created in the late 1940s, can be seen from afar .

In the chapel's presbytery, built in the 15th century, there are two frescoes behind and to the side of the stone altar. The mural behind the altar shows a Madonna seated on a throne with two saints on her side, the one on the left depicts Saint Columban. The latter is also the motif of the side fresco, which, however, has been poorly preserved, although it was created later.

A few stone steps next to the entrance lead to the oldest part of the hermitage with the Hermit's cave. This lies between the rock face and the outer wall of the chapel. In front of the cave there are some remains of frescoes showing a bear being stabbed with a sword or dagger, while almost no traces of the figure holding the sword are left.

A small staircase leads from here to a room opposite the chapel, in which the history of the Hermitage is presented. In a corner above the room is the belfry of the small bell tower .