Eremo delle Carceri
The Eremo delle Carceri is a small monastery building in a steep forest ravine on Monte Subasio , in Umbria , central Italy , 791 meters high and four kilometers from Assisi . The stairs and arches of the small monastery span the devil's hole, a grotto .
To this grotto, with a small chapel next to it, the later canonized Francis of Assisi withdrew in the 13th century like other hermits before him to pray when he was looking for silence. Francis probably received the chapel and location from the Benedictines around 1215 , at the same time that they gave him the portiuncula in the valley below Assisi. Francis kept returning to this place for prayer and meditation in later years. On a stone bridge there is still the oak tree , in the branches of which the birds sat, which legend says Francis preached to.
Around 1400 , Bernardine of Siena had a small monastery built on this site and a small church called Santa Maria delle Carceri , which expanded the previously existing chapel .
Today the monastery is inhabited by some Franciscans and is open to visitors.
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Coordinates: 43 ° 3 '48.9 " N , 12 ° 39' 5.6" E