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The Hermitage of Sant‘Alberto di Butrio is a true oasis of secular peace where religion, art and history are intertwined, embraced by an unspoilt landscape capable of transmitting serenity and bliss
There are places, in our Oltrepò, capable of instilling in the visitor a sense of inner serenity so profound as to leave one incredulous. This happens in the Hermitage of Sant‘Alberto di Butrio (Staffora Valley). Immersed in green pastures, amidst mountains with oak and chestnut trees, it represents, in its own right, the symbol of silence and recollection out of our time and with a centuries-old history behind it.
The building of the hermitage was begun by St Albert of Butrio in 1030 after receiving those lands as a sign of thanks from a local nobleman. A Romanesque church dedicated to the Virgin Mary was erected on those lands where St Albert and his followers could celebrate religious rites. Once they had established their own community, the hermits built the Monastery, of which only one wing remains today, in which they settled.
The Hermitage became an important spiritual centre, many monks gathered there in prayer and many guests were received, both ecclesiastical and lay, including the fugitive King of England Edward II.
What changed things was a decision by Pope Leo X who, in 1516, established the union of this abbey with that of San Bartolomeo in Strada di Pavia with the consequent slow abandonment of the monks from the hermitage. Three centuries of total abandonment followed, during which the monastery and part of the tower were destroyed. With the arrival of Napoleonic laws, the hermitage was suppressed and requisitioned by the government.
More than a century later, it was Don Luigi Orione who decided to repopulate the hermitage by installing one of the branches of his order, the "Hermits of Divine Providence".
Today, it is still the friars who manage the entire site, which consists of the parish church of Santa Maria and three communicating oratories.
Over the centuries, the work carried out within the monastery has also been fundamental to the gastronomic heritage of the Oltrepò Pavese, preserving and developing local produce, and this art continues to this day. In fact, inside the hermitage, it is possible to purchase the monks‘ products such as herbal teas, honey, ointments and liqueurs, which contribute to the structure‘s subsistence.
