Hermitage of San Bartolomeo in Legio, Romanesque hermitage in Roccamorice, Italy.

The Hermitage of San Bartolomeo in Legio is a medieval monastic retreat carved into the limestone cliffs of Majella National Park at about 700 meters elevation. The structure contains a chapel and two rooms hewn directly from rock, connected by four separate staircases cut into the mountainside.

The hermitage predates the 11th century. Around 1250 Pietro da Morrone, the future Pope Celestine V, restored it, and after returning from Lyon in 1274 he stayed here at least two years. He had gone to Lyon to obtain from Pope Gregory X recognition of his Congregation of the Celestines.

On 25 August the faithful carry a wooden statue of Saint Bartholomew, shown holding a knife because he was flayed, down to the Capo la Vena stream to bathe in an old ritual; the effigy then stays in the village church until the second Saturday of September. The statue stands in the altar niche of the chapel.

The path to reach this hermitage starts from the village of Decontra and takes about 30 minutes each way over a fairly challenging mountain trail. Sturdy footwear is essential, and caution is needed on the exposed sections, especially during wet weather when the stone can become slippery.

The facade above the door still shows traces of frescoes, badly worn by weather and scratched over by visitors' graffiti. The church portal is just a plain stone lintel. Inside, a wooden statue of Saint Bartholomew holds a knife, recalling his martyrdom by flaying.