monastic settlement dating from the tenth century, is placed on the Virtues of the Virgin Mary and was used until the 1956 as a private residence. The original building is easily recognizable as the structure underwent in ancient times the collapse of the classroom but we can recognize two parallel aisles with apses and an arched iconostasis. In 1978 They were restored the frescoes that enrich: in the apse of the right nave, also used as a burial pit, as well as the plain above, there is a fourteenth Crucifixion, enclosed in a red frame, where Christ has his head tilted on his right arm, and the sides of the Madonna with an intense expression and San Giovanni Evangelista holding the roll of the Gospel in hand. Note the blooming flowers at the cross sides: many have recognized in them the characteristic "daffodils" that are part of the flora typical of the Murgia Park, of which you have a beautiful view right from the terraces in front of this ancient place of worship. The trio of saints in the left aisle is made, respectively from right to left, from Santa Barbara (sec. XIII), with rich imperial robes and hair auburn canonical, San Nicola (sec. XIV), As dalmatic and blessing the Greek, and Saint Panteleimon (sec. XIII), holding a box with ampoules symbol of his profession as a doctor. Next: Madonna with child thirteenth, Oriental-inspired unfortunately in poor condition. Entering on the right, instead, They are placing two later frescoes: St. Peter Martyr with the symbols of his martyrdom, and St. Anthony, both sixteenth. At the front of the church runs a dig in 1977 returned material of a Bronze Age furnace and artifacts of the Middle Ages. To see the surrounding environments church: a series of dwellings, Local Service, such as the one with the earth the settling tank which feeds the numerous cisterns present, silos and the "bell" excavated in the rock and used to preserve foodstuffs and granagli

Rock church of Our Lady of Virtues

The church, built into the rock, It represents an excellent example of rural architecture whose structure with three aisles refer to Romanic basilicas. Its realization is traced, with a good chance, early ninth century A.D., even though its many renovations that have taken place over time makes it difficult to exact dating. The three naves, separate da colonne, ending with the apses (architectural structures semicircular or polygonal) On the vault is engraved a cross. The most important artistic track is represented by a present of the sixteenth-century fresco in the apse of the nave depicting the Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John. Another extant artistic testimony is represented by a depiction of the Virgin with their backs to the Christ, fresco present inside the apse of the right aisle