Located just outside the town of Presicce, on the road linking the town of Taurisano to the locality of Pozzomauro, is the crypt of San Mauro right around the chapel of S. Maria del Rito, a small rural church of Basilian origin. Only few ruins remain from both of the crypt and the church that, however, are worth visiting for the frescoes that decorate them, dating between the 13th and 14th centuries. The crypt is divided into two naves; however, to date it is only possible to see fragments of paintings, probably of saints including St. Catherine of Alexandria and a scene of the Annunciation in the right nave. Originally, the crypt interacted with an underground oil mill, of which some mangers, a tank and the area devoted to grinding are still present. Near the crypt is the church of ...

The Laura of Presicce is poorly preserved but like the others in southern Salento, it had to be composed of cells found in small crumblier rock-cut caves which was accessible from above through a cavity. Inside there was the "giacitoio", where the monks rested, and the crypt with frescoed wall designated for the celebration of the mass. ...

The Palazzo Paternò appears as a noble residence of a remarkable size of the XV - XVI century. In fact, the palace conceals an ancient Norman fortress, surrounded until the early 19th century by a deep moat on the east and north sides, while the rest by a swamp. The ancient castle has four towers on the corners of a rectangular central keep. In 1565 the Gonzagas began to transform the castle into a noble residence through the construction of a new building along the northwest, the opening of a north entrance and the construction of stables and lodges. In 1630 Princess Maria Cito Moles did further restructuring of the castle, refining the fortress with a wide lodge, a hanging garden full of ornamental plants, and building a chapel dedicated to the Annunciation overlooking the ...

The Castello di Acquarica del Capo is a structure of Angevin-Norman age and appears as an imposing complex of great historical-cultural importance. The oldest core, built by the Norman lords Bonsecolo, was square in shape, with each side measuring 40 meters, and consisted of a wall reinforced by four towers of which only one is retained. Remnants of this ancient building seem detectable in the remains of the facade of Via Roma. However, nothing can prove that Giovanni Antonio Orsini, owner of the castle in the fifteenth century, had completely rebuilt the defensive structure or restored that of the Norman period. The interior of the building houses, on the ground floor, some rooms formerly used as deposits, while the rooms upstairs were used for noble residence. Inside, traces of the ...

The interior of the church, of modest dimension (7 x 7 m), has a plan of a single chamber and two apses, a quite unique example in Salento. Inside, on the front wall and the apses, are gravely damaged layers of frescoes and graffiti from the Byzantine period (XI-XII sec.). In the left apse, among the oldest frescoes and Byzantine style, is a depiction of St. John the Baptist, the forerunner of the coming of the Messiah, recognizable by the inscription in Greek inserted in a cartouche "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness".  In the right, overlaid on the oldest images, are more recent  frescoes, probably dating between the sixteenth and seventeenth century: in the middle is a Christ Pantocrator, a Franciscan saint on the right and a holy bishop on the ...

Dating back to 9th century AD, the crypt, located under the chapel of the same name dating back to the 14th century, is situated in the former granary of dei Carmelitani. It consists of a quadrangular room with fresco of Santa Marina of 1400 in the niche opposite the entrance. On all the walls are notable traces of color of ancient frescoes, now permanently lost. On the left of the entrance insist two small rooms, one of which is completely painted with images typical of Byzantine iconography: Saint Catherine of Alexandria, St. Nicholas represented according to oriental iconographic standards, an anonymous saint who is holding a cachet, and lastly Archangel Gabriel. The crypt is of considerable importance due to the presence of the “Dormitio Virginis” of the twelfth century: the ...

On the south of Specchia, on the outskirts of the village, in "Verardo", near the "Falcone-Borsellino", Park you can visit an interesting archaeological area, made up of numerous cuts in the rocky outcrops of different characteristics and origins.   Four "pit” tombs were found in the area; the excavation was directly carried out in the bedrock outcropping and oriented from east to west. During the excavations, three resulted as previously violated in the modern age, but some findings show that they date back between late antiquity and medieval age. The fourth tomb kept the remains of eight individuals who died just some short intervals from one another as well as a considerable amount of other remains from previous burials.   The area is now part of ...

Protected by the thick vegetation, along the canal of Fano on the eastern ridge, the crypt is almost invisible at a quick glance. Having small dimensions (2.70 × 3.20 m), probably intended for a small group of Byzantine monks, the place of worship entirely dug in the bedrock consists of two environments: a cell, where the participants could occupy the two seats formed along the side walls during the religious celebrations, and a separated apse from the cell by a partition stone that reaches the ceiling flanked by two windows. At the center of the first cell, a small pit perhaps contained the remains of one of these monks. Little remained of the painted decoration from which a depiction of Saint Pantaleone is recognizable.   ...

In the locality of Pescoluse - 600 meters east from the Dolmen Cosi and 40 meters south of the provincial road 91 (5 meters above sea level) – is the dolmen Argentina-Graziadei made up of an apogee cell with orthostats, irregularly shaped and of various sizes, resting on the rock outcropping and supporting a roof made of four large slabs. The entrance of the dolmen (0.6m of width and a height of0.8 meters) - facing west – permits the access to an underground structure through a short flight of three carved into the rock steps. The artificial cavity, of quadrangular form, and the whole apogee cell have the following dimensions: height and width of 1.5 m and a length of 2 meters. At the base of the small cave is an elliptical pit, hewn in bedrock (a depth of 1.15 m, ...

The Quercia Vallonea of Tricase is an example of an exceptional dimension of Quercus macrolepis of more than 900 years old: the trunk, in fact, has a circumference of 4.25 m and the foliage covers an area of ​​approximately 700 m². The Quercia Vallonea rises in a narrow traffic island bordered by stone walls, along the Tricase -Tricase Porto road; other Vallonea oaks stand close to the centuries-old oak trees, within the same traffic island and in the surrounding area.   ...

The crypt-cave is situated in the immediate vicinity of the Church of Madonna delle Rasce, about 2 km north of the Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Leuca.   It is a typical Basilian cave comprising a circular compartment about 2 meters high and a diameter of about 3 meters. It is accessible by a very narrow passage in the rock, through which leads to a corridor that directs to another small circular room, probably used as a dormitory. The use of the area for residential purposes seems evidenced also by the presence of channels for collecting rain water, the remains of small underground tanks, and etc. ...

The Centopietre is a peculiar construction, situated in front of the church of San Giovanni Battista, on the outskirts of Patù, in the Campo Re. It has a rectangular shape (7.20 x 5.5 x 2.6 m) and consists of 100 large squared tuff blocks and 26 slabs of tuff disposed to cover a double sloping. The structure has two entrances, one on the east side and one on the south side. Inside, there are frescoes in poor condition dating back to the thirteenth-fourteenth century, a period in which the monument was used as a place of worship by Eastern monks. Among these is a Crucifixion placed on the north wall, and later framed in a picturesque layer together with san Giorgio on the same side but in the west nave. Along the western wall is a succession of saints under arches held up by ...

Outside the town of Giuliano, it is possible to visit the Romanesque Chiesa di San Pietro. The structure has a rectangular plan with a single nave and semicircular apse. It was built with masonry blocks in double vestment using also some reusable blocks from funeral buildings of the Roman period from the ancient site of Vereto, including a precious Doric frieze with a triglyph and two metopes with ox skulls. Inside, there are traces of several layers of plaster painted with figures of Byzantine saints, naval graffiti, and an inscription in Greek, evidence of the passage of pilgrims who perhaps would stop here to rest before heading to Santa Maria di Leuca. Behind the apse are many medieval graves and a well, probably used for Byzantine baptismal.   ...

On the southern outskirts of the city center is a crypt named, basing on the only surviving frescoes, the Cristo Pantocreatore. The crypt, dates back to the ninth century, appears isolated in a private garden protected by massive stone walls. Through a staircase dug into the rock, descending by about 3 m to access a second garden, also closed, which presents a series of mangers at the sides, a niche dug into the rock and on one side an opening corresponding to a door flanked by two windows. The entrance leads to the crypt, supported by two pillars (one recently built), from where the apse can be recognized, in deep plane, adorned with a simple altar in stone, typical of the Greek-Byzantine rite. Placed on the altar is the only remaining fresco depicting the Cristo Pantocreatore, perhaps ...

In an area of San Dana is the crypt of St. Apollonia, dating back to the sixth-ninth century. Saint Apollonia is represented in a fresco on a side wall, holding the palm of martyrdom and a white lily, surrounded by clouds and angels. The crypt has a single compartment of an irregular quadrilateral shape, entirely dug into the rock. Inside is a little cell wherein a seat was retrieved. This element has made speculations regarding the premature dating of the crypt, linked to the presence of some anchorite/recluse; others, instead, speculate that the construction of the crypt occurred in the sixth century, in connection to the presence of Italian-Greek monks.   There are some frescoes, dating from the XI and XVIII century, of which decipherable are, aside from St. Apollonia, the Mary ...

The chapel, dedicated to Santa Barbara, was built in the thirteenth and fourteenth century, inside a feminine convention complex of Clarisse and Benedictine, of which ruins in the vicinity are used for agricultural purposes. The facade has an entrance door with a monolithic architrave surmounted by a lunette, probably once painted. Above the lunette was a rose window, now occluded by blocks of tuff. The chapel has a unique rectangular interior plan with a semicircular apse. The latter appears barred by tuff blocks, from the destruction of the apse, facing east. Along the north wall is a door that connected the church with the adjacent monastic area.  Traces of preserved frescoes are really rare: on the northern wall are traces of a Deesis: Mary, Christ and St. John the Baptist, ...

The crypt, which recently underwent a restoration, was built by Italian-Greek monks in the ninth century, in a farm-monastery complex, dependent from the Abbey of Santa Maria de Amito. Entering the hypogeum through two staircases that lead to a space dug in the rock and of modest height, punctuated by the presence of disordered brick pillars and columns of varying shape, mostly taken from the natural rocky bank, other from recent renovations. The structure is articulated around a central square space, visible from outside through standing within the belfry. The central space is occupied by a presbytery with octagonal columns and balustrade, inside of which is an eighteenth-century altar with a Byzantine Mary in the center. Along the perimeter walls are visible traces of occluded altars, ...

The structure, with east / west orientation, has a longitudinal plan divided into three naves and is characterized by a series of three arches supported by three columns of which the highest is the central one. The façade is adorned with a two-mullioned window divided by a slender column with a truncated pyramid capital on which a lobed cross is carved, typical of the Eastern iconography, above the portal entrance in a slightly ogival arch.   The apse outside, typically Byzantine, is in a polygonal shape, while the one inside is in circular form and is characterized by a two-mullioned window with arches of unequal radius. On the southern wall, one of the slabs of stone carved into a cruciform window is preserved. Inside is a large stone statue of St. Euphemia. The altar was ...