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The meadows and houses of Cottanello have been used for centuries by shepherds who moved from Sabina to Rieti. Due to their importance, they have been registered in the National Catalog of Rural Landscapes. The large grassy clearing in which the now abandoned village stands is still today a pasture for cows, horses, sheep and pigs reared in the wild. This is a place of silence and peace where local people often come to organize picnics or observe the stars at night.

It seems that San Cataldo has never actually passed through these places. Yet the legends about the saint are not lacking. It is said that the rock that leads from the hermitage to the valley floor is full of hollows and fissures, marks of the elbows and feet of the saint who went to the stream every day to wash himself. Legends aside, the hermitage is a wonderful example of the union between human architecture and nature. The interior of the chapel and its ancient Byzantine fresco can be visited only during FAI days.

Nice spring to cool off in the Cottanello meadows. There are stone picnic tables and barbeque grills nearby. Ideal place for a break.

Listed among the natural monuments of the Lazio region, the Hermitage of San Cataldo is a small sanctuary carved into the granite rock of the mountains. If the outside appears very impressive, the inside with its large frescoes is no different.

This small abandoned village rises among the wide and green clearings. The houses are still clearly visible and passing by one cannot help but think of the life that flowed between these mountains.

Listed among the natural monuments of the Lazio region, the Hermitage of San Cataldo is a small sanctuary carved into the granite rock of the mountains. If the exterior appears very impressive, the interior with its large frescoes is no exception.

One of the few saints who is also highly valued outside of Christianity is San Francesco, known in the German-speaking world as Francis of Assisi. Francis was born in Assisi in 1181/82 and died as early as 1226. In his youth, the son of wealthy parents, he was more of a bon vivant, but later he turned to Christ. In the half-ruined little church of San Damiano, on the hillside outside the city walls of Assisi, he was praying one day and heard the voice of Christ coming down from the cross, urging him to “rebuild his church”. At first he took this request literally and restored the church building, later he came to realize that this is primarily about the church as the community of believers. Francis became a role model for many people, they joined him and the "Order of the Friars Minor" (Ordo Fratrum Minorum) of Francis of Assisi came into being. Today in the broad Franciscan religious family there are three male branches: the Franciscans, the Minorites and the Capuchins; and two females: the Franciscans and the Poor Clares. In addition, there is the "Third" or "Secular" order, which women and men who do not take the classic vows of the order (poverty, chastity and obedience) and continue to live in their family and their profession can join.

Easy stroll, don’t be fooled by the beginning, the views later on are amazing.