Eremo di Sant'Alberto di Butrio, Romanesque hermitage in Ponte Nizza, Italy

Eremo di Sant'Alberto di Butrio is a hermitage in the Staffora Valley at 687 metres, in the hamlet of Abbadia Sant'Alberto, Ponte Nizza. Its rough tan and beige stone complex centres on a Romanesque church; a tall square bell tower of pale stone rises in stages, its top pierced by two arched openings with bells and capped by a tiled roof and cross. Lower buildings with terracotta-tiled roofs adjoin it, and a dark sculpted figure stands near the left facade.

Alberto di Butrio settled as a hermit in the Borrione valley in 1030; after he healed the mute son of the Marquis of Casalasco, the marquis had a Romanesque church dedicated to the Madonna built for him and his followers. The community elected Alberto abbot until his death in 1073, and a papal bull of 1074 placed the hermitage directly under Gregory VII. Abbeys and cells in the provinces of Piacenza, Pavia, Alessandria and Genoa depended on it.

The name comes from Alberto di Butrio, who settled as a hermit in the nearby Borrione valley in 1030 and led the community until his death on 5 September 1073. His remains were placed in a wax statue kept in the church of Sant'Alberto, and the church of Santa Maria was restored in 1973 for the ninth centenary of his death.

The hermitage stands at 687 metres in the Staffora valley, reached by road from Ponte Nizza and then on foot along the final approach; the climb rewards walkers with the mountain setting. The church of Santa Maria was restored in 1973, when the apse's single-light windows were reopened and steps were laid in the churchyard.

Fra' Ave Maria, born Cesare Pisano, lived in the hermitage from 1923 to 1964, leading a life of prayer and penance. Don Orione had repopulated the site in 1921 with the Hermits of Divine Providence, and this friar became the best known of them.