La «Legenda» di Alberto da Montalceto (BHL 232): un eremita irregolare nella Toscana del XII secolo

Albert from Montalceto (Siena), who died around 1151, is known to us through a Legenda, a new edition of which is given here, with source research and commentary. The author of the work is a monk from the Camaldolese Abbey of San Salvatore della Berardenga, writing between 1158 and 1162 at the request of prior Rodulfus II-III of Camaldoli. But Rodulfus had an active part in the writing, as a coauthor, and the Legenda has similarities with his Liber Eremitice Regule (of the same years). The style is good and the writing is very correct, classical in style. The model of holiness is hermitic, proposing asceticism in solitude, but we find original themes such as the return to the lost paradise and the friendship for animals (particularly a hare). The author often quotes Seneca, because in his opinion – following Peter Abelard – the ideals of the Christian ascetic life coincide with those of the best Greek and Roman philosophers. The Legenda expresses historically the rootedness of the monastery in the Berardenga territory, around the church of Sant’Alberto in Montalceto, and the friendship between the monks and the family of Count Scialenghi, the lords of the place.