The Way of Saint Benedict

The Way of Saint Benedict (480 - 547 AD) links together the three most important places for the start and development of the Benedictine movement. It joins the village of Norcia in Umbria, where Saint Benedict was born, with the Monte Cassino Abbey in Lazio, where he died. And in Subiaco, about halfway along the trail, you can visit the magnificent Sacro Specco, the oldest Benedictine monastery in the world. This red-roofed building clings to the cliffside and contains two superimposed churches decorated with frescoes created in the 14th century. Here, Benedict spent three years in a grotto: the Grotta Sancta.