Convento di Cospiti

The Convento di Cospiti, a medieval monastery sits on a cusp of rock ('Cospiti' comes from the Italian for cusp) 600m above sea level and the town of Vettica, near Amalfi. A steep footpath winds up by massive limestone cliffs from there, but a less exhausting way first climbs, then traverses in from San Lazzaro, finally dropping steeply to the ruins.
It's a remarkable place for a monastery, perched between bands of vertical and overhanging cliffs, above and below. The monks seem to have sought maximum solitude.


The shortest path from San Lazzaro is also the most exciting way in. From the top of the cliff, at an electricity pylon (I swear someone must be offering the utility companies a bonus for spoiling the most photogenic tourist viewpoints) the path turns steeply leftwards, down a ramp splitting the cliff diagonally.

The path turns downwards. The monastery is out of sight below, on the steep slopes on the right of the picture.

Our path winds between a looming cliff and a vertiginous drop into a gully, below a pinnacle poised above the path. Once in the gully the path turns down it. Cables fastened to the rock provide a handrail as you creep downwards with a mere suggestion of steps, concreted or carved into the rock.

The exciting bit of the path with its shiny, new chain

Lastly, a more recent, shiny chain protects the final turn out of the gully onto the slightly less vertigo inducing slopes below which sit the monastery ruins.

The ruins with Amalfi and the Capo d'Orsa below

First mention of a religious building on this site comes from the 11th century and it was used continuously until it's gradual decline towards the end of the 18th century. In the 14th century it was a pilgrimage destination and from then until 17th century was it's heyday. early in the 17th century. Terracing indicates the growing of food and these precipitous gardens are also to be found in the large cliff encircled bay to the south west where a further ruined chapel sits on a bluff of rock. I guess that this must have been associated with the monastery.

There's a barrel-vaulted building under a ledge on which a wooden cross has been mounted and above that an old wall built at the edge of a cave which was a hermitage. A story mentions this as a retreat for the prospective Pope Sixtus IV for a couple of years in the fifteenth century.

Cliffs with the wooden cross and the Sixtus hermitage

Today it's a quiet spot. Last week I visited for the first time amidst spring flowers including an early blooming Italian orchid. It's also known as the Naked Man orchid called because each of it's petals is shaped like a human figure with arms and legs, joined to the central stem at the head. Between it's 'legs' is the telltale spike which gives away the gender.

Naked Man Orchid (the man's in the lowest petals)

Dung beetles in their labour of Sysiphus

The place is alive with lizards and above soared a Kestrel and then a Peregrine Falcon, which folded its wings and dived towards the cliff to a perch and, presumably its nest. Leaving I walked eastwards and climbed gently around the rocky bluffs to escape the encircling cliffs without any further scrambling.  This longer path is an alternative way in for those who prefer to be able to keep their hands in their pockets whilst walking.

Wood Anemones and Cyclamen on the path back to San Lazzaro