Built 300m above sea level in an ancient hermitage place, it is documented back to 1243. Built on a rock wall with large natural cavities and in the vicinity of a spring, it was initially home to monks, but in 1283 a monastery of Benedictine nuns was added. In early 1800s, after the suppression of hermitages by the Venetian Republic and the subsequent Napoleonic confiscations, “San Donato del Covolo”, still owned by the nuns, slowly declined and was later abandoned with the attached two-storey building of the original her-mitage becoming a rural household. During the First World War, the whole site was requisitioned by the Italian troops entrenched on the Monte Tondo and the church used as a kitchen. In 1935, following the collapse of the ceiling and part of the walls, the church was restored. During the Second World War, the hermitage was occupied by German soldiers who destroyed what remained of the “monastery of the nuns” in the minor cave.

In 1980, the Alpine Group of Pozzolo restored the church which was almost entirely rebuilt.


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