Christ in Byzantine Mosaics and Frescoes



Christ in Byzantine Mosaics and Frescoes

In the locality round the village of Massafra are established some country crypts and shrines adorned with proto-Christian frescoes and enclosed by hillside caves where the monks previously arranged their medicinal herbs; often they endured here by reducing baskets to charitable passersby.

The most spectacular sanctuary is Santa Maria della Scala, a shining white jewel carved into the cave-lined hills. Reached by descending a 125-step baroque staircase, it has attractive Byzantine decorations. Early frescoes in some of these places of adoration designated day to the ninth and early tenth centuries. ...