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Camaldoli, founded a thousand years ago by St. Romualdo, is a community of Benedictine monks. Its two houses, the Holy Hermitage and the Monastery, immersed in the peace of the forest, represent two fundamental dimensions of the monastic experience, solitude and communion. The monastic community lives in the search for God, in prayer and in work, and is open to sharing with the men and women of our time, above all through hospitality. The Foresteria offers a space open to all, of spiritual and cultural deepening, of dialogue and meeting. These proposals are of various kinds and are inserted in the horizon of the central elements that characterize the daily life of the monks: the study of sacred Scripture, the celebration of the liturgy and interreligious and intercultural dialogue.

The monastic complex of Camaldoli, Sacred Hermitage and Monastery, was founded by St. Romuald of Ravenna around 1012, just below the ridge of the Tuscan-Romagnolo Apennines, which overlooks the Casentino valley. The Saint of Ravenna united in a unique hermitic and cenobitic life experience. According to the story of the foundation, reported by Rodolfo I in the Constitutions of 1080, Romualdo gave the first inhabitants of the hermitage the only rule of silence, fasting and staying in the cell, while the monastery imposed the rule of St. Benedict. The monastery of Camaldoli, built 3 km under the Hermitage, formerly took the name of Fontebuono from the source that supplied the monastic complex with water and the hospital, now a guest house. Rudolph II in the Rule of the hermitical life of the twelfth century, writes that in Camaldoli the reception at the monastery had to be observed in every way, as a manifestation of the love that hermits nourished for every man, nourished by the search for Christ.

A peculiar feature of the Camaldoli community is ecumenical sensitivity and commitment to inter-religious dialogue. Starting from the years of the Council, initiatives and meetings with representatives of other churches and non-Christian religions were held in Camaldoli. Some of the monks themselves have undertaken the study and research activity in these areas. Among the interreligious initiatives organized in Camaldoli we mention: - the Jewish-Christian Talks, promoted since 1980, a fundamental reference point for the promotion of knowledge of the Jewish tradition; - in dialogue with living faiths, seminars on topics of common interest, with the participation of Italian and foreign experts belonging to different religious confessions; - the Ecumenical Conferences, specific moments of reflection and confrontation between Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians.

The monks of the Camaldolese community are men who live the following of the Gospel inserted in the culture of their time and who are confronted with all the aspects and values of contemporary reality. The Camaldolese hermitage is located between the cenobitic and the anacoretic way of life, it considers the best elements and creates a wise balance of solitude and common life. The monks, in the sincere search for God, reserve particular attention to the filial encounter with Him that is expressed in prayer, lived according to the tradition of the Fathers. The most traditional form of monks' presence in the world is hospitality which, according to the Rule, tends not only to offer material relief to those who visit the community, but also spiritual support in the communion of life and in the encounter with the Word of God.

Discussion on Ecumenical Dialogue at the time of Francis starting from the Conference organized at Camaldoli in September 2018.