The complex opened for worship on 2 July 1883, built by the Benedictine monks of the congregation of Santa Maria di Monte Oliveto Maggiore, the Olivetans of Siena. The monastery library was founded the same year and is still listed in the Italian register of libraries.
What to see
The monastery stands above the town at number 59 of via Romana, the old road climbing from the harbour towards the ridge of the promontory. The dedication, though, is far older than the building: down in the centre stands the oratory of San Prospero e Santa Caterina, put up in 1420, and not far from it the former hospital named after the same two saints, whose nineteenth-century structure is now disused. The name San Prospero had been in use in Camogli for centuries before the Olivetans arrived.
Two chapels of Sant'Anna sit close to the monastery. The old one has fallen to ruin, but above its entrance portal a niche still holds a statue of the saint. The new one was probably built during the seventeenth century, and gives its name to the settlement of Sant'Anna, one of the localities recognised by the town statute along with Bana, San Giacomo and San Nicolò.
Visiting
You walk up from the centre along creuze and stepped lanes, or drive up via Romana. The monastery is not a museum and keeps no museum hours: the church follows the rhythm of the community living there, so ask in town before setting off. The library, founded in 1883 with everything else, is a reference collection rather than a room you wander into.
Our editors' tip
We go up in the late afternoon, when the sun drops towards the Golfo Paradiso and the noise of the seafront stays below. We suggest walking the extra few minutes to the two chapels of Sant'Anna: the ruined old one, with that statue left in its niche above the door, says more about the Camogli hillside than the newer monastery does. Then take the steps back down towards the painted houses of the harbour.