10 Sacred & Religious Sites in Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani That You Shouldn't Miss

Complex archaelogical site to east south of the city, whose rests are witness of two important historical moments. The hill was select for the building of the most imposing italic temple in southern Italy, devoted to the goddess Minerva - Atena Ilias, with the probable purpose to enact ideologically and politically the alliance among the native "princes" and the Romans in the 318 a.C. The pagan temple, used for the whole Roman epoch, was destoyed during the V sec.AD, probably to work of the bishop Rufino, to give life to the extraordinary basilica to central plant - the greatest Palaeochristian building of Apulia - devoted to the SS. Cosma and Damiano and only subsequently to S. Leucio. Among the elements survisors of the temple there is the Corinthian capital with femalepropome (Giunone?), the drums of numerous grooved columns, the feet of a gigantictelamone. Elegant columns surmonted by wonderfull ionic, polychrome capitals as the splendid one "mosaic of the peacock", characterize the Christian building.

Located at the foot of Minervino Murge, in a valley at the end of that natural canal, formerly called "Matitani", the San Michele cave is a karstic cavity whose formation dates back to the Quaternary (2 million years Ago), when this area, so far submerged, begins to rise above sea level. The first written testimonies, referring to this cave, can be found in a parchment preserved in the Abbey of Montecassino, dated 12 February of the year 1000. However, the cave had to be known and frequented in the past and presumably in early Christian times. Ancient micheal cult site, the Grotto has a historical, artistic and speleological interest.

The baptistery, one of the mouments attributed to S.Sabino (516 - 566), was integral part of a complex of Christian buildings as the Basilica of the Salvatore and that of S. Maria. The building, with 12 sides, is preserved thanks to the presence of a crusher that, in the 800, has utilized the ancient structures, without twisting its plant and arresting the inexorable destruction of it. The inside is divided in symmetrical environments, displaced around a central room that preserves the rests of the baptismal source of eptagonal form.

The history of Saint Clare’s Church is closely linked to the history of the nearby monastery probably founded in the XIII century. It dates back to a testamentary transfer in 1421 of a vineyard by Cecca, Judge Angelo from Termoli’s daughter and Angelo Aldemano’s widow. The monastery was the seat of Saint Clare’s nuns, and was built just outside the early city walls. At the time of the first wallin