The mountain where St Francis received the stigmata
On a rocky crag of Monte Penna, at over 1,100 metres in the Casentino forests, stands the Sanctuary of La Verna. In 1213 Count Orlando Cattani gave the mountain to St Francis of Assisi as a place of retreat, and here, in September 1224, Francis received the stigmata, the wounds of Christ.
The sanctuary is a complex of churches and chapels built against the rock: the Chiesa Maggiore and the Chapel of the Stigmata hold large glazed terracottas by Andrea della Robbia, white and blue, among the finest ever made. Paths lead through ancient beech and fir woods to the crevices where Francis prayed, such as the Sasso Spicco, a huge overhanging boulder.
Tip: every afternoon the friars walk in procession to the Chapel of the Stigmata, a tradition unbroken for centuries; the sanctuary offers simple accommodation for pilgrims.
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