The Camaldolese are part of the Benedictine family of monastic orders founded by St. Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century. The Camaldolese branch was established through the efforts of the Italian monk St. Romuald at the start of the second millennium. His reform sought to renew and integrate the solitary dimension of monastic life. Nearly a thousand years ago, St. Romuald founded the Sacred Hermitage of Camaldoli, high in the mountains of central Italy, near the city of Arezzo. There are Camaldolese hermitages and monasteries throughout Italy. The most ancient is the urban monastery originally established by St. Gregory the Great in the heart of Rome in the sixth century.

The order is currently divided into two autonomous congregrations. The one headquarted at Camaldoli maintains a mix of monasteries and hermitages among the communities of men. The other, known as the Congregation of Monte Corona, was established by the Renaissance reformer, Saint Paul Gustiniani. This group lives solely in hermitages, usually with a very small number of monks comprising the community.

The Camaldolese order was brought to the United States in 1958, with the founding of Immaculate Heart Hermitage (New Camaldoli) in the Santa Lucia mountains of Big Sur, California. It was joined in 1959 by Holy Family Hermitage, Bloomingdale, Ohio, belonging to the monks of Monte Corona. Additional U.S. Camaldolese monasteries are Incarnation Monastery in Berkeley, California, and Transfiguration Monastery, for women, located in Windsor, New York. The Camaldolese are also in Poland, France, India, Brazil, Colombia (Monte Corona) and Tanzania.,