Hermitage of Madonna dell'Altare
# Hermitage of Madonna dell'Altare

Eremo della Madonna dell'Altare (Italian for Hermitage of Madonna dell'Altare) is an hermitage located in Palena, Province of Chieti (Abruzzo, Italy).

## History

Part of Palanese folk history is a story regarding Palena's patron saint, San Falco, or Falco di Palena, who died here, and was found surrounded by candles, three days after a bell was heard ringing in the town below. It took three days to reach him because of the snow. During the annual festival of Ferragosto, the town organizes a hike up to the church, where they roast a pig. It is considered the most important and sacred of the churches in Palena.

This history is totally wrong. My mother was born there in 1930. San Falco died on Monte Coccia in a modest hermitage constructed for him. In the 13th century Pietro Angelerio, the future Pope Celestine V, was a hermit in a cave in the Maiella area for 3 years. The Hermitage of Madonna dell'Altare was built in the 14th century by the Celestines next to this cave.

