Santuario Santa Maria dell'Isola, beautiful church built on an imposing rock in the water

Santuario Santa Maria dell'Isola, beautiful church built on an imposing rock in the water. The sanctuary is on the rock of the same name in the vicinity of the city of Tropea. It is likely that the rock of the island was inhabited, around the VII-VIII century, by hermits. These, isolating themselves from the civilian world, devoted themselves to a contemplative and ascetic life. The first written instructions for the use of the rock for monastic purposes date from the eleventh century, all of which is a precedent, must be regarded as a historical hypothesis. For many years it belonged to the Basilian monks and from the eleventh century onwards the Benedictine monks lived there.