Nestled in the peaceful hills of Lazio, the Badia di San Sebastiano in Alatri is a timeless architectural gem with medieval roots and Renaissance soul. Founded in the late 5th century on the remains of a Roman villa, it is considered the oldest surviving monastic settlement in Europe-a precenobitic foundation that predates Saint Benedict and the formal birth of Western monasticism.Tradition holds that a young Benedict studied here in 528, drawing inspiration from the Rule of the Master, believed to have been written at the Badia and later reinterpreted in his own Rule of Saint Benedict.In 1283, a rare cycle of frescoes-among the earliest commissioned by women, the Poor Clares-was painted over earlier Templar and early medieval layers, revealing a deep and layered spiritual history.Later entrusted to the humanist Giovanni Tortelli by Pope Nicholas V, the Badia flourished as a center of Renaissance culture. Today, it is a refined private residence with frescoed rooms, candlelit loggias, and a rare Early Christian-era pool-where history, serenity, and timeless elegance meet.