A group of 11 Romanian pilgrims visiting Greece's Orthodox all-male monastic community of Mount Athos are in hospital with food poisoning after eating wild mushrooms during a hike, Greek officials said today.

Authorities in the semi-autonomous community in northern Greece said none of the men's lives were in danger. They were being treated today in hospitals in Halkidiki, near Mount Athos, and Thessaloniki.

Police said the group had been staying at the skete — a smaller community that comes under the jurisdiction of a monastery — of St. Anne. They left on an overnight hike up the mountain where they gathered and ate wild mushrooms for dinner yesterday.

They were taken ill afterwards, and after making their way back to the skete early today were taken for treatment to hospital.

While many wild mushrooms are edible, it requires solid knowledge and skill to distinguish them from poisonous varieties, many of which look very similar to harmless fungi.

Mount Athos and its late medieval monasteries is a popular destination for pilgrims from across the Orthodox world.

Women have always been banned from entering the 1000-year-old community, a rule which is still upheld.