A few kilometres from the town of Preci, on the right side of the Castle of Belforte, there’s a small valley – crossed by a narrow stream and the lovely ‘Lu Cuniuntu’ waterfalls – called Valloncello which extends to join with the wider and better-known Valle della Nera.
In ancient times, this atmospheric and isolated spot was a source of sulphurous waters that have since dried up following the area’s numerous earthquakes. Rich in medicinal plants such as gentian, centaurea and male fern, it is not far from the famous ‘scuola chirurgica preciana’ (Preci Surgical School). The peaceful and pleasant valley was chosen as the ideal place for the building of the lebbrosario di San Lazzaro (San Lazzaro leprosy hospital).
Tradition has it that it was St. Francis himself who went to the area to found the small church and hospital and often visited the sick there. According to documentary evidence, on 24th September 1218, the vast area was handed over to the monk Bono, rector of the nearby Benedictine church of S. Cataldo (now long gone) by a wealthy local feudal lord Razzardo di Roccapazza. Powerfully influenced by the preaching of Saint Francis, the gentleman conceded the vast piece of land for the building of a church and a hospital for lepers, reserving for himself merely the right to graze his cattle.
From then on, numerous patients and families were taken care of in this hospital, some remains still existing today in the inhabited centre of the village of San Lazzaro in Valloncello.
The leprosy hospital was only officially abolished in 1490, via a decree by Pope Innocent VIII, who thanked God for the by-then drastic reduction in leprosy cases.
The structure had a complex history, passing under the jurisdiction of various religious orders, from the monks of Sant’Eutizio in 1218 to the minor friars and to the order of the saints Maurizio and Lazzaro in 1572. In modern times, ownership passed to the Sorbello family in the mid-19th century, who then sold it to the Betti Massi family of Belforte and Poggio di Croce, who turned it into a residential building for farming purposes.