Stillness, isolation, discipline: there are places where prayer and asceticism coincide. Here are five ideas for travelling to silent, isolated places that are predisposed, by nature or tradition, to peace and meditation.
The Monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat, one of the symbols of Catalonia ©S-F/Shutterstock
Montserrat, Spain
Clinging to the side of a mountain and camouflaged among tall, rounded granite rocks, the Monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat, one of the symbols of Catalonia, is a place steeped in ancestral charm and millenary mysticism. Founded, according to tradition, in the 11th century by a Benedictine monk, it has been one of the most important places of worship in Spain since time immemorial.
The façade of the basilica with its Gothic decorations, the sumptuous single-nave interior and the small statue of the Moreneta, the black Madonna with baby Jesus in her arms, patron saint of the Catalan autonomous community, are evidence of many centuries of life with archaic rhythms. And the mind flies back to when only the monks lived among these stones, isolated from the world and with at their feet the narrow valley crossed by the Santa Maria stream, rough and fascinating with the green of the trees on the red earth. Although today it has become a popular destination for travellers and pilgrims, sitting and admiring the landscape from one of the many pinnacles surrounding the sanctuary, or waiting in the early morning for the sun to rise on the horizon, is a heart-opening experience of prayer and meditation.
Catalonia on the road
Monastery of Camaldoli, Italy
A library of 35,000 volumes and a guesthouse that hosted, among others, Lorenzo the Magnificent and his circle of humanists. A place of faith and devotion, but also a centre of activity and cultural production, as in the best monastic tradition. Camaldoli was built starting in the 11th century and the first structure to function was the hospital, of which the ancient galenical laboratory for processing medicinal herbs remains today. Then the church was built, which preserves, among others, seven panels by Giorgio Vasari. Is it worth the trip? Yes, and there is more. The monastery is immersed in the luxuriant vegetation of the Casentino Forests National Park and a little further up, in a clearing that rips through the dense weave of the forest, hides the Camaldolese Hermitage, founded by San Romualdo near the banks of the Archiano. Awaiting you here are not only the medieval buildings and church, but above all the rarefied atmosphere of a place isolated from the world and the soothing panorama of a natural terrace overlooking valleys of a thousand shades of green.
Two ideas for a trek starting from the Camaldoli Monastery: walk up to the Hermitage or head for the Castagno Miraglia, a monumental tree whose trunk measures over 4 m in diameter. Whichever you choose, on the return journey refresh yourself with the schiacciata di Camaldoli, naturally filled with cold cuts and mushrooms.
The Monastery of Santa Caterina, a frontier and outpost of faith even at the time it was built ©Kylie Nicholson/Shutterstock
St Catherine's, Mount Sinai, Egypt
Sacred and profane: Mount Sinai, on whose summit Moses received the Tablets of the Law from God, is a two-hour drive from Sharm El-Sheik, the Red Sea holiday capital. At the foot of this mountain, leaning against a cliff, stands the Monastery of St Catherine, a frontier and outpost of the faith even at the time it was built. Inside the enclosure are a Byzantine basilica, a mosque and a library, not accessible to the public, housing an immense collection of books and codices written in all the languages of antiquity. On the northern side of the complex is a triangular garden in which apricot and olive trees grow, seemingly out of place in a severe environment dominated by dust and stone, and therefore all the more appreciable for a break in the shade. In the monastery courtyard is also the bramble bush where, according to the Book of Exodus, the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses. Unfortunately, souvenir hunters have been plucking twigs from the bramble bush for years, forcing the monks to have the entire area fenced off.
To reach Mount Sinai, you will need to be accompanied by a Bedouin guide along the two paths to the summit, the Camel Path and the 3750 Steps of Repentance carved into the rock.
Mount Athos ©PHOTO BY DIMITRIOS TILIS/Getty Images
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Mount Athos, Greece
The true sacred mountain of Greece is not the Olympus of the Homeric gods, but Mount Athos, located in the easternmost of the offshoots of the Chalkidiki Peninsula, with its characteristic open hand shape, and accessible only by boat. The 20 Orthodox monasteries built here over a thousand years ago constitute a semi-autonomous republic, governed by a monastic council: Greece, through a governor, is responsible for maintaining security and public order, while the ecclesiastical authority of reference is the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The complex is accessible according to very strict rules that provide for the admission of only one hundred Orthodox pilgrims and ten non-Orthodox visitors at the same time; the entrance is also forbidden to women, a rule that has been violated very few times in ten centuries (the last probably during the Second World War, when a formation of Greek partisans that included some women found refuge for some time on Mount Athos). Visiting the complex is therefore not easy, but it is worth it: here time has a different consistency and weight than we are used to, and not only because it is still marked according to the Julian calendar. In certain monasteries, guests are required to follow the monks' rhythms and activities, sometimes exhausting for those unaccustomed to praying even for ten consecutive hours, but the efforts will be rewarded: regardless of one's faith, it is impossible to remain indifferent before the solemnity of the ritual, the ascetic solitude in the midst of nature, the wonder of the sacred architecture.
Permission to visit the monastery is very laborious: it may take up to six months to obtain it.Children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by their father or present a permit signed by the parent. Contact the Pilgrimage Office to Mount Athos, based in Thessaloniki, well in advance.
The Ostrog Monastery, perched in the mountains of Montenegro ©Mila Atkovska/Shutterstock
Ostrog Monastery, Montenegro
To look at the Ostrog Monastery from afar is to become agitated. The mountain seems too high, too rough, too looming over the small building that contends for space with the rock. Yet it has been there for centuries, white and thin, leaning against the wall and indeed carved into it, a witness to human ingenuity and the power of faith. It may seem improbable, given that more than a million visitors and pilgrims come here every year, but the monastery manages to convey intense feelings of recollection and asceticism, particularly in the frescoed rock chapels and in the upper temple, which houses the relics of St Basil, bishop of Herzegovina and founder of Ostrog. Two kilometres further down the valley is another monastery, called the Lower, which includes the remarkable Trinity Church. Many pilgrims cover the distance between the two monasteries barefoot, but it is also possible to drive a few hundred metres to the upper monastery.
At the lower monastery, a natural spring of very fresh water springs forth, to which healing powers are attributed. It is certainly very thirst-quenching!