Hermitage of Madonna dell'Altare
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| Hermitage of Madonna dell'Altare | |
|---|---|
Eremo della Madonna dell'Altare | |
 View of the hermitage | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Province | Province of Chieti |
| Region | Abruzzo |
| Location | |
| Municipality | Palena |
| State | Italy |
| Architecture | |
| Completed | 11th-century |
Eremo della Madonna dell'Altare (Italian for Hermitage of Madonna dell'Altare) is an hermitage located in Palena, Province of Chieti (Abruzzo, Italy).[1]
Pietro da Morrone, in 1235-36, left the hermitage of Castel di Sangro to seek a more remote and solitary place. Crossing the Forchetta pass, he arrived at a rocky spur and stayed for about four years in a nearby cave.[2]
In the 14th century, the Celestine monks built a religious building.[3] With the abolition of the Celestine Order in 1807, the religious complex passed into the management of the Perticone family, which donated the religious buildings to the municipality of Palena in 1970.[4]
The toponym "altare" (altar), according to some scholars, is due to the shape of the rock resembling an altar.[5]