Abbazia di Santa Maria di Cerrate (Lecce)

Created 15-Jun-23

38 photos, 2 videos

Abbey of Santa Maria di Cerrate
Once a Greek Orthodox monastery, then the center of a farm, this notable example of Puglian Romanesque architecture now tells the tale of its two previous lives – one religious, the other agricultural.
Shrouded in mystery and immersed in the olive groves that cover the area outside the city of Lecce, the origins of the abbey complex can be traced back to Tancred, King of Sicily who, legend has it, was visited here by an apparition of the Virgin Mary. In more concrete terms, the story of Cerrate began under the Norman prince Bohemond I of Antioch who, some time between the 11th and 12th centuries, founded a monastery there of Basilian monks of the Greek Orthodox rite, who turned it into one of the most important hubs for the propagation of culture in southern Italy, thanks to its library and flourishing scriptorium, where the monks would transcribe ancient texts. Over subsequent centuries, the abbey grew in size and prestige, complementing its religious role with farming, but in 1711 an attack by Turkish pirates resulted in it falling into a state of complete abandonment, interrupted only in 1965 by an initial restoration commissioned by the Province of Lecce, which in 2012 entrusted to FAI a new salvage operation geared towards opening the property to the public.

Categories & Keywords

Category:Travel and Places

Subcategory:Europe

Subcategory Detail:Italy

Keywords:Abbey, Cerrate, Maria, Santa, abbazia, cerrate, di, italy, lecce, of, puglia