Church of the Madonna della Grotta in Ceglie Messapica
The following article was written by Pierluigi Papa , curator of the website www.brindisimedievale.blogspot.com.
This is an interesting post on the beautiful rock church of the Madonna della Grotta in Ceglie Messapica , one of the most interesting places from a historical, cultural and architectural point of view in Puglia and the entire South of Italy.
A site absolutely to visit and advertise.
Detail of the Church of the Madonna della Grotta
In the heart of the Valle d ’Itria , in a typical rural landscape of Ceglie Messapica , on the road that connects the city with the nearby Francavilla Fontana , there is one of the numerous rock churches present in the Brindisi area:the church of Madonna della Grotta .
HISTORY
In the first half of the eighth century AD from the East a group of monks of the order of Basilians arrived in Puglia¹, persecuted by the Byzantine emperor Leo III Isaurico² , who built some rock churches in the areas surrounding the city, including San Michele e le Croci .
There are not many sources that testify the phases of the construction work up to the fourteenth century when the master-architect Domenico de Iuliano³ he built the church of Madonna della Grotta, next to, most likely, an ancient cloister used by pilgrims who went to the sanctuary to pay homage to the Madonna during the spring season.
In 2007 a group of bloggers cegliesi decided to launch a propaganda in support of this monument so that it can be protected, preserved and enhanced.
In 2015, the Hon. Michele Ciracì⁴ decided to expose a parliamentary question to save this monument from almost certain disappearance, founding a committee of citizens of Cegliese, called "S.O.S. Our Lady of the Cave ”⁵.
ARCHITECTURE
The walls of the building are tall and slender, interrupted by an old portal and the rose window⁶, of which the external ring remains, which allows the light to pass through the interior of the building.
The facade, built in the style of rustic ashlar presents the rose window, and the bell gable⁸ to a fornix and another added in the following centuries.
The internal walls are 6 meters wide and 22 meters long where you can find beautiful frescoes dating back to the Byzantine period, such as the fresco dedicated to Sant’Antonio Abate⁹ , located to the left of the apse, of which only the upper part is visible today.
Another depicting the Virgin and Child , also in the same state of conservation as that of Sant'Antonio Abate, is located in a niche created in a chapel by a lithic altar.
The roof of the church is made up of a double sloping sloping roof typical of the Gothic style , while the flooring is in the hypogeum style of the Ionian-Salento area, such as the flooring of the Cathedral of Otranto.
After passing the portal and the steps, take the staircase and go down where you can admire a beautiful cave, similar to those of Castellana Grotte, in the province of Bari, where the altars and stairways frame a crypt with its stalactites and stalagmites.
The cavity continues for another 40 meters between low and narrow passages.
Bibliography • Franco Cardini and Marina Montesano, Medieval History, Florence, Le Monnier University / History, 2006, p. 225 (see (*) in the notes) • Jurlaro Rosario, An ignored architect of the fourteenth century:Domenico De Juliano, in "Osservatore Romano", n.155, 8 July 1964, p.5
Sitography 1. www.altosalentorivieradeitrulli.it/ 2. www.treccani.it 3. www.camera.it
Notes ¹ Monastic order inspired by the rule of St. Basil the Great (Caesarea in Cappadocia, 329-379), and the rite could be celebrated in both Latin and Greek languages.
² (Germanicea, about 675-741). He was Byzantine emperor, Basileus, from 717. He was the promoter, through a series of edicts, to eliminate the cult of sacred images. This process is called Iconoclasm (*), a term that derives from the Greek εἰκών -eikón, “image” and κλάω -kláo, “rupture”, which means “destruction of images”.
³ On the right facade of the church, there is an epigraph which bears the name of the architect who lived in the fourteenth century. But who is De Juliano actually? It could be an architect from Giuliano di Lecce, current hamlet of Castrignano del Capo, in the Capo di Leuca, and this is not the only case that the name of an artist is associated with the place of birth, as in the famous example of Leonardo from the city di Vinci, near Florence, or it could be one of the descendants of the Julianos whose traces are found in the 16th century in the city of Ostuni.
⁴ (Ceglie Messapica, 25 August 1969). Graduated in political science. Member of the Party of Freedom (P.D.L.) of Silvio Berluscioni, former Forza Italia (F.I.) and was proclaimed deputy on 25 June 2014.
⁵ Committee made up of citizens of Cegliese to save the building. The first meeting was held at the headquarters of the “Amici del Borgo Antico” committee on Friday 2 October 2015.
⁶ Architectural element used in churches during the Middle Ages. It is a large circular radial opening, typical of the churches of the Romanesque and Gothic order, which is located in the center of the facade in line with the main door.
⁷ It is an external parameter used by bosses or drafts, that is, by segments with a quadrandular shape. There are various types of ashlar:smooth and gentle, bearing and diamond. This kind of ashlar is characterized by a notable projection and its surface is roughened.
⁸ It is one of the types of bell towers with a thin light surface located above the roof of the church and opened by means of one or more lights where small bells are placed. This type of bell tower can be surmounted by a pediment and tympanum.
⁹ (Qumans, c. 251 - Thebaid desert, January 17, 357). He is a Christian hermit and is regarded as the founder of Christian monasticism and the first of the abbots. (*) Franco Cardini and Marina Montesano, Medieval History, Florence, Le Monnier University / History, 2006, p. 225:"It was precisely he who prohibited the worship of sacred images throughout the empire, which in fact were condemned to be eliminated by sovereign decree. The destruction of the images (called with a word of Greek origin iconoclasm) was at the origin of a long crisis that dragged on throughout the eighth century and part of the ninth "( Article written by Pierluigi Papa , curator of the website www.brindisimedievale.blogspot.com) (Photo gives:www.nicolaciraci.it and www.brundarte.wordpress.com).