Top 10 Churches & Cathedrals in Taranto, Puglia

The site is located where the monastery of St. Mary of Justice near the sea and the river Tara is the same one that hosted the hospitium Peregrinantium of St. Mary of the Sea, built in 1119 by the will of Constance of Hauteville and his son Bohemond as a shelter of the crusaders and pilgrims to the Holy Land. The establishment of the Congregation Olivetana (a subsidiary of the Benedictine Order) in the Ionian city dates back to the early fourteenth century. It was in 1482 that Archbishop John of Aragon identified for Olivetani the seat of St. Mary of Justice, close to the River Tara, once inhabited by Greek monks. The main activities of the community were Oliveto agriculture and livestock, but the monks were able to exploit the resources of the sea. The gardens and watering of the monastery and the nearby river, however, represented a strong attraction to the incursions of the Turks: one of the earliest and most violent attacks suffered by the monastic community was that in 1520, during which it was stolen from the rich treasure. Defenseless, the abbey continued to be the target of pirate attacks; particularly serious was that of 1594, during which the complex was partially burned. In the seventeenth century, due to the poor conditions of the Abbey, the Archbishop Star awarded to Olivetani to move to the city, in the Hospice of St. Frances of Rome, where they were transferred to the canvas and the bell of the old site. Further processing in the farm, the various rooms of the abbey suffered splits and restructuring in order to adapt them to shelter livestock, storage of tools and products. Even the name changed to Colonial Justice. Starting in 1960, the complex was incorporated in the industrial area of Taranto, eventually suffocated by tanks of the refinery and finally losing the original relationship with not only the environment, but even with the historical memory and collective citizenship. Around 1970 it was included among the assets of the State Property and assigned to the Department for Environmental, Architectural Art and History of Puglia. Since 1980, the Ministry of Heritage and Culture has launched a systematic restoration of the monument, now nearing completion, which allowed the total recovery. The installation of the abbey is built around two broad areas quadrangular. From the first, smaller, leads to the Angevin church, which has a facade decorated with rosettes and single-spired with a diamond tip, the monastery and local service at one level. The church has a single nave, is divided into two bays covered with cross vaults set to groups of columns; from the presbytery, also with a cross vault, leads to the sacristy which preserves the original terracotta floors yellow. On the right wall of the first bay, two fluted columns set on high pedestals and Regents a entablature mark the entrance to the beautiful sixteenth-century chapel, covered by an umbrella vault and decorated with carved frames for eggs. On the back wall is the altar stone carved and painted, surmounted by a mural. Through a narrow passageway under the stairs leading to the upper floor of the convent, is accessed internally all'androne barrel vault. The latter, arranged along the axis of the original core intended to hospice, consists of a large rectangular room, with the barrel vault scanned by two parallel series of transverse ribs, resting on corbels stone. On the wall bordering the entrance hall, the renovation has allowed the recovery of a fresco depicting the Crucifixion, with Our Lady of Sorrows and St. John and St. Benedict.The second area, more extensive, was to receive a cloister or a porch where you can read the traces of taxes cruises, closed on side from the west part of the building corresponding to the original hospice for pilgrims Norman. A final part of the building is open to the countryside, perhaps intended to place the initial reception, it features a large portal style Durazzo, with arch inscribed in a rectangle bordered by a toric frame, surmounted by the symbol of the Order Olivetano. Upstairs Abbey is accessed via a staircase carparo that flows into a large rectangular room that serves as a corridor for other small rooms, perhaps the cells, while a larger room is superimposed on the chancel of the church. Through a door carved with motifs of roses and the Arms Olivetano, leads to a steep staircase leading to the roofs of the church and the remains of the tower. The whole complex is protected by a wall that marks the boundary within which are articulated construction. The main entrance is set in the eastern wall. The restoration project, now nearing completion, currently involves the extension of the north wing, first nucleus of Norman. The monument still remains waiting for a use.