SS. Trinità Sanctuary

The high Aniene Valley, after the Fasti of the Roman Era, became one of the most frequented locations by hermits in the Middle Ages.
Small places of worship were put beside the famous convents, often dug in the caves or on particular rocky forms. There were around ten, as for the majority nothing remains except a trace of wall in the woods...
And it is this "network" of sacred locations that you come to think about while going along the street beside the Aniene Valley from Subiaco to Vallepietra. The sharp twists in the road give way to spectacular views, that "something" spiritual, which in the Middle Ages brought many people here in prayer; perhaps it still does so today, when you stop the car and leave your gaze to wander across the narrow valley.
At 1337 meters above sea level, a tiny portion of white wall that simply protects a cavern in the rock is still one of the most venerated and oldest places of worship in Lazio, a place that still attracts numerous pilgrims, for whose origins we don't have exact dates. There are two legends: One says that two Christians from Ravenna took refuge here to escape persecution from Nero; here they would be visited by Saints Peter and John coming from the East and that to the four the image of the SS Trinity would appear; the other legend, popular, says that the plow and oxen of a pastor fell from the rocky wall and then stopped miraculously in front of the image of the Trinity, which appeared on the wall of a cave of the mountain.
The hypothesis that the eastern origin of the SS Trinity appeared seems, however, to be reliable: it would also be confirmed by the Byzantine figure in the frescoes, which decorate the inside of the chapel, probably from the 11th century, which represent the SS Trinity and scenes from the life of Christ.
From the signatures to the inscriptions scratched into the frescoes, it seems taht there were pilgrimages here in the 15th century: today, from the beginning of May to the end of October, there is a flow of pilgrims, estimated to be around 500,000 people.