Key to Umbria: City Walks - Eremo dei Carceri

Eremo dei Carcere (13th - 15th centuries)

"Carceri" are literally "prisons", but in this context the word refers to a series of caves in the mountain here that were used by hermits. Brother Sylvester, one of the early followers of St Francis lived in one of them in ca. 1210. The monks of San Benedetto owned the land until ca. 1215, when they gave it to St Francis.

In 1373, Pope Gregory XI gave permission to the Blessed Paoluccio da Trinci to establish what became known as the Order of Franciscan Observants in ten convents (in addition to the original nucleus at San Bartolomeo di Brogliano, near Colfiorito). The present convent was among them, and much of its surviving fabric probably dates to this period, although it was renovated in the 15th century under St Bernardino of Siena.

San Bernadino (15th century)

This church near the entrance was largely built under St Bernardino of Siena and was subsequently dedicated to him. The altar has a fine relief (15th century) of the Pietà, and the fresco above depicts the Crucifixion and the Virgin with St John the Evangelist and the kneeling St Francis at the foot of the Cross. [There is a small stained glass window (14th century) on the counter-facade.]

Cappellina di Santa Maria delle Carcere (1215)

Image courtesy of
Paolo Rossi

This tiny chapel, which is reached from San Bernardino, was built into one of the grottoes soon after the Franciscans received the hermitage from San Benedetto. The fresco (15th century) behind the altar, which depicts the Madonna and Child with St Francis, was painted over another of the Crucifixion (13th century).

Grotta San Francesco

Although there is no evidence that St Francis ever stayed at the hermitage, tradition has it that he used the so-called Grotta San Francesco as a retreat. This grotto is reached by the steep staircase on the right in San Bernardino.

Cappella di Santa Maria Maddalena (15th century)

This chapel near the exit contains the monument (1474) to the Blessed Barnaba Manassei da Terni, who founded the Monte di Pietà movement in Umbria in ca. 1462. He had retired to the Eremo dei carcere shortly before his death.

The altarpiece (15th century) in the chapel depicts the Pietà with the Virgin and St John the Evangelist.