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‘This is my life and I'm not going to accept people wanting to change it’
Most people assume that life as a hermit involves total isolation, perhaps living up a mountain, and in silence. But it's actually much more nuanced than that. A hermit is a person who chooses to live in solitude for religious reasons, committing to a life of poverty, chastity and obedience to God.
Italy has over 1000 hermits and the majority of those are women. Julia Bolton-Holloway is one of them. She's 84 and lives and works in a cemetery in Florence. She joined Emma Barnett to discuss what her life is like.
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