Church Cave of Saint Anthony Abbott

All closed. In abandoned for years !!!

AND POINT TO SPEND RELAXATION TIME

It is an extraordinary place! Despite being located in the inhabited center it preserves that mystical air that makes you forget the noise of feriality

We have only seen it from the outside, unfortunately, because we arrived when the guided tours had already ended. But already in this way a very beautiful complex appeared. Definitely go to see it.

A hidden gem in the Massafra underground, a must-see, through the tourist office, which usually organizes two visits a day. It is a shame the state of conservation, which is appreciated by the humidity in the frescoes ... because it is a true wonder. This stone church, once located in the countryside, was incorporated into new buildings; so much so that the Pagliari hospital was built on top of it, abandoned in 1980. The hypogeic complex was used over time as a woodshed, warehouse, garbage dump, quicklime basin and other purposes. Towards the end of the 1950s, cleaning work by city volunteers revealed the residual frescoes, some of which were restored in the early 1970s. The current deposit consists of the merger of two originally different churches, with the apses facing east, obtained by breaking a rock diaphragm that separated them. However, it seems to be the result of different architectural concepts. The oldest crypt, the excavation of which could be traced back to the SX, is the one that is located further to the south, and is of a more rigorous classicism: it has a high quadrangular bem with a semicircular apse, most likely accompanied in its origin by a wooden iconostasis and attributable to the Greek Orthodox rite. The Latin rite was officiated in the other church, probably from the 16th century, which shows a baroque altar from the 18th century crowned with a fresco by Saint Anthony the Abbot from the same period in the flat-bottomed apse. It is simpler and more rustic in its manufacture and preserves frescoes in tall, narrow niches. The church has two naves with a semicircular apse and a flat roof. The primitive plant is of Greek rite and dates back to the 12th century. The right side of the church is the result of an expansion from the 18th century, thus forming a double church with a wall altar. The richly decorated walls are now difficult to read because of the humidity; while the figures placed in the presbytery area and on the top of the apse where a Deesis appears are clearer. There are frescoes from different periods: In the oldest crypt, in front of the entrance, we find San Nicolás and Santa Caterina on the left. Next to the bema there is a large niche where the Crucifixion with the Trinity is represented. It is identified that the fresco is prior to the 12th century, since before this date, the feet of the Crucified were represented in parallel. Before the bema, Santiago Apóstol is still fresh, while in the presbytery, from right to left, we find images of an Annunciation, of Saint Peter Martyr (Dominican), of the Pantocrator in Déesis, Saint Anthony, Saint Vitus, a Crucifixion and Saint Stephen. The bema frescoes date from the 14th-15th centuries. On the south wall is the representation of San Eligio, flanked by a diptych with Santa Elena or Santa Marina and San Leonardo, and a large fresco of San Nicola and a Virgin and Child. Marina is usually represented with Saint Leonardo, but she also resembles Saint Helena, who carries the cross (which is covered in the fresco). It is followed by an Annunciation and three niches with: a fresco representing Saint Anthony the Abbot in monastic habit, holding his staff in Tau and a scroll with the inscription: "Abstinence and patience vicit demones" (S.XVIII); Santiago dressed as a pilgrim; and the oldest fresco that is from Blessed Pope Urban V (S.XIV-XV), holding a table with the faces of Saints Peter and Paul. It was he who discovered their tombs, and who transferred Peter's relics (which only the Pope could pray before them in the Vatican) to the Church of Saint John Lateran in Rome, for the worship of the whole world.