Pope Leo XIV Concludes Summer Outings With Visits to Subiaco and Vallepietra

The itinerary took the pontiff from a high-altitude mountain sanctuary to the cradle of Western monasticism, building on a sequence of recent excursions that included a trip earlier in the week to the historic Abbey of Montecassino.

Prayer at the Mountain Sanctuary of Vallepietra

The morning began with an unannounced stop at the Santuario della Santissima Trinità in Vallepietra, situated roughly 120 kilometers from Rome on the border between the Lazio and Abruzzo regions. Perched at 1,337 meters of altitude on the slopes of Monte Autore, the shrine remains accessible only from May through October due to harsh winter weather conditions.

According to the Holy See Press Office, the pontiff stopped to pray before the fresco and greeted some faithful and religious during his time at the mountain site. The sanctuary features a 12th-century Byzantine-style fresco depicting the three persons of the Trinity seated side by side and blessing according to the Greek rite—an exceptional representation in Western Christian art. While historical documentation places the origins of the sanctuary as early as the late 11th century, local tradition traces its roots even further back to ancient refugee accounts from the persecution era under Nero.

Veneration at the Sacro Speco and Subiaco Monasteries

Following the morning stop in Vallepietra, the pope traveled about 40 minutes by car to Subiaco to tour the region’s two major Benedictine monasteries. His first stop was the Sacro Speco, built around the sacred cave where Saint Benedict of Nursia lived as a hermit during the 6th century before establishing his monastic communities.

He also spent time in prayer before a 13th-century fresco representing Saint Francis of Assisi, noted as one of the earliest surviving depictions of the poverello of Assisi.

Reflections From the Abbot and the Augustinian Connection

After leaving the Sacro Speco, the pontiff moved on to the nearby Monastery of Santa Escolástica, where he walked through the historic cloisters and shared a cordial, family-style lunch with the resident monks and sanctuary collaborators in the refectory.

The dialogue with him was kind and fraternal. It was a meeting between religious and also a meeting between Augustine and Benedict, drawn above all by the humanitas of the bishop of Hippo. Dom Mauro Meacci, Ordinary Abbot of Subiaco

The abbot noted that the pope’s background as an Augustinian religious showed through in his conversational style and informal questions regarding the concrete realities of modern monastic life. During the visit, the two institutions exchanged gifts: Leo XIV presented the monks with two chalices bearing his papal coat of arms, while the community offered a basket of regional products, a reproduction of the Saint Benedict medal, and a scholarly volume detailing the art and history of the Subiaco monasteries.

The pontiff also inspected an important historical text housed in the Monumental National Monument State Library at Santa Escolástica: an incunable edition of Saint Augustine’s De Civitate Dei printed locally in Subiaco in 1467.

Summer Itinerary and Upcoming Schedule

The excursion to Subiaco marks the third major trip undertaken by the pope since he began his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. Earlier in the week, on July 20, Leo XIV traveled to the Abbey of Montecassino to pray before the tomb of Saint Benedict. Papal officials confirmed that the current period of reduced public schedules and private spiritual travel from Castel Gandolfo is scheduled to conclude on Monday, July 27, 2026.