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Church of the Hermit - Piedipaterno
It is a sacred building with a crypt and an adjoining monastery. Overall, the Church of the Hermit with its crypt constitute a very rare and unique architectural organism in the area.
It is located along the right bank of the Nera River and is part of the internal connection system organized along the mountain road that reached Sellano from Paterno. The name of the place refers to the presence of hermit settlements, in fact the entire complex overlooks a rocky amphitheater within which numerous hermit cells were built, thanks also to the widespread presence of caves.
The original layout of the building dates back to the 13th century. XI (altered by later constructions, even relatively recent). In this place there was also, on the area of ​​a previous church (documented from the 9th century), the monastery of Santa Maria de Ugonis, founded by the Vallombrosan monks since the origin of the order (11th century), active until the sanctioned suppression by Innocenzo X in 1654. The surviving walls of the monastic building still allow us to appreciate its size and articulation.
The importance of the monastery is confirmed by the existence (until its stealing in 1974) of a wooden Madonna of the century. XIII and a triptych dated 1451, the work of the Master of Eggi (belonging to an American collection until 1950). The primitive orientation towards the mountain of the Romanesque portal of the Church (currently reused in the entrance to the cemetery) shows that the only access once took place only from above.
The interior has a single nave with a transept, to which a small chapel a little later is connected. Much of the nave (of which only the side walls remain) was inappropriately invaded by the chapels of the adjacent cemetery. The surviving part of the nave and the transept, consolidated in the 1970s, retain frescoes by the Master of Eggi and the 12th century. XV - XVI and XVII, including a Madonna with Child.
The apsidal environment, with a rectilinear termination, is covered by a barrel vault and retains traces of frescoes from the century. XIV (today no longer accessible from the presbytery). The road leads to the rare crypt with a Greek cross dating back to the century. XI.