Putignano - Puglia - Italy - Church of San Michele in Monte Laureto

The recent history of the cave of San Michele in Monte Laureto

The first years of the 16th century the Fathers of the Carmelite order took turns in the underground church, who contributed to modify its overall structure and to increase the works of art present.

The ancient history of the cave dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel

There is a great deal of information, reliable or otherwise, that revolve around the birth of the site and the cults close to it. A first written testimony attributed to the bishop of Bisceglie Pompeo Sarnelli, dated 1680, confirms that the site was founded thanks to Pope Grogorio Magno starting from the year 591, with the finances of his family. According to this legendary reconstruction, the cave had the role of grancia of the hypothetical Abbey of Barsento in the territory of Noci, hypothetical because the latter never assumed this role.

The High Altar and the Angevin Chapel

The main altar forms a single body with the ogival-shaped niche above it. The structure was born in the centuries ago as the only project designed to immediately enhance the devotional complex of the place. The external covering is double sloping made of typical chiancarelle of the territory, while the internal arch is pointed arch. The artificial cavity thus composed houses the altar and the seats, also in stone, for the altar servers the devotional liturgical function.

The facade and the column outside the monument

The church is located within the complex that houses the offices of the ASL Bari and the latter manages the underground site. The monumental entrance consists of an ogival Gothic arch, which opens to the first part of the access stairway to the cave.

The entrance façade is surmounted by a small bell gable dominated by a bell dated 1682 and called, as in the oration dedicated to San Michele reported in bas-relief around it, "Miracle Bell". The bell tower previously stood in the rear part of the structure, later when the above facade was built it was moved to the front.

To the left of the small entrance facade is a fluted column surmounted by a metal cross. Its construction, which in an unlikely way, is attributed to the will of Gregory the Great's parents by the hand of General Tulliano XI, leader of Sipontine weapons (end of the 6th century), the date of construction is not really known.