The hermitage of San Cataldo is a small oratory carved into the granite rock on the slopes of a mountain, just outside the village of Cottanello, in the province of Rieti. It is counted among the natural monuments of the Lazio region.
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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.
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.