The Hermitage Of San Colombano, Italy

120 meters up a cliff face, seemingly carved into the side of the deep valley the hermitage is in clear view. Yet it also sends a clear message that it was built for a specific reason – to remove its inhabitants far from the madding crown below. It was intended to be a place of isolated spiritual contemplation. Once it had been ridden of a pesky dragon...
The hermitage was built almost seven hundred years ago, in 1319. It is named after the Irish Saint: Colombano in Italian and Colomban in English. It is said that he travelled extensively in the area in the late 6th and early 7th century and founded the nearby monastery of Bobbio.
The saint arrived in Italy after chastising a king, Theuderic , for adultery. Colombano met with a warm welcome by the King of the Lombards who allocated to him a plot of land in Bobbio where he founded the new monastery and he came to the end of his days on 21 November 615.