Eremo delle Carceri

From Franciscan Wiki

The Eremo delle Carceri (Italian: "Hermitage of the Cells") is a monastic retreat, originally a Benedictine hermitage, lent to St. Francis by that order, where he retired to pray and meditate. It is about 4 km ESE of Assisi; it has become a pilgrimage site and around the early cells a large cpmplex of chapels and monastic buildings has accreted over the centuries. Among the sights can be seen the tiny rock-cut cave cell where St. Francis slept — his bare rock bed is still shown — and a very old olive tree, said by some to be the place where he quieted the birds so he could preach; but almost certainly not rightly, since the earliest accounts make it an oak tree.