Hermits are making a comeback in Italy, and the majority of them are women, according to a new book.
Professor Isacco Turina, a sociologist at the University of Bologna, tracked down 37 hermits for his work: The New Hermits, The Flight from the World in Modern Italy.
He said there are now as many as 1000 hermits in Italy, with several hundred more dotted across Europe and the US.
However, instead of long, flowing beards and cave dwellings, the modern hermit can usually be found in a city apartment, and is even sometimes connected to the internet for convenience.
"At the risk of sounding like a caricature, the average hermits are the sort of people who belong on the plains," he said.
...He said most hermits were around 55 years old, and that they had decided to drop out of the rat race when they were "between 35 and 50".
Hermit tourism is also becoming a fad. A company called Spiritour offers "hermit holidays†in the dunes of Morocco, while Ictus Voyages have a similar retreat in the Sinai desert.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/13/whermit113.xmlI don't know that I could do it for life, but a hermit holiday sounds great. Sometimes it is nice just to be alone and without distractions.
