The monastery of St. Mary Gruptis rises on the south-west of Mount Pentime in the territory of the Regional Park Taburno-Camposauro. It was built between 940 and 944 by the Lombards (Benevento and established in more than three centuries earlier) and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, although other sources postpone the consecration as the structure may have originally had a military function, given its strategic location .
Built halfway up the eastern slope of the narrow gorge called "the funn " or "the Puzzillo , suffered numerous architectural projects, many of them as a result of disastrous natural events such as earthquakes and fires.
The first inhabitants were the Benedictine monks of the abbey, followed by Celestine in 1264 and then by Humble in 1303. Subsequently returned to the Benedictines, was eventually entrusted to Camaldolesi in 1660, that lived up to the devastating earthquake of June 5, 1688 (XI on the Mercalli scale), which caused serious damage to the structure. As a result, and apart from the fact that by now had become the object of repeated raids by bandits, Cardinal Orsini VM (archbishop of Benevento and the future Pope Benedict XIII), ordered the abandonment, desecrating permanently in 1705 during a visit pastoral.
Due to the collapse of almost all the covers (the only areas covered are the square tower and some room, especially those coming in karst caves) the structure is completely invaded by trees and shrubs in a uniform manner so that it almost seems that they are the ruins have to work hard to preserve their "living space", and not vice versa. For this reason, most of the buildings is completely hidden to the eye, giving the impression from afar that the place is devoid of any interest. It is this apparent lack of interest that has led us to close observation, because, to put it simply, we wanted to take away the doubt.
M.