Entirely covered with oaks, it was a "sacred wood" (in Latin, lucus) and a place of worship dedicated to Jupiter since Roman times (3rd century BC); it was also chosen by the early hermits, who came from Syria as early as the 5th century AD, as a preferred place of mystical solitude. Today the mountain, still unspoiled, is home to ancient hermitages and religious buildings of great historical and artistic value.

We recommend that you visit the San Giuliano Abbey, according to tradition dating back to the 5th century, the Villa Lalli (former hermitage of Santa Maria delle Grazie), the Hermitage of Sant'Antimo and the shrine dedicated to St Francis, who, in around 1218, obtained the small Chiesa di Santa Caterina from the Benedictines, and around which he built small cells for himself and his first companions.

The Monteluco Visitors' Centre is also well worth a visit: the centre is the result of an initiative by the local branch of the WWF in order to promote knowledge through historical, religious, geological, botanical and zoological evidence.