Top 6 Caves around Ginosa

The rock church of Saint Sofia comes with two beautiful Byzantine frescoes. Saint Sofia is identified in hagiographical tradition with the figure of Sofia of Milan, the mother of Saints Faith, Hope and Charity, whose veneration is attested for the sixth century. However, there are conflicting hagiographical traditions; one tradition makes Sofia herself a martyr under the Diocletian Persecution (303/4). This conflicts with the much more widespread hagiographical tradition (BHL 2966, also extant in Greek, Armenian and Georgian versions) placing Sofia, the mother of Faith, Hope, and Charity, in the time of Hadrian (second century) and reporting her dying not as a martyr but mourning for her martyred daughters.

Along the sides of the ravine as it snakes its way around the town are the ruins of rock-cut settlements so distinctive of Ginosa. These are the settlements of people who cut their houses and churches into the rock. There are two parts of the rock village: Rione Casale and Rione di Rivolta. Travel Guides by Experienced Archaeologists & Historians Destinations • Europe • Italy Travel Guide • Puglia • Ginosa Historic Landmarks Facebook-f Twitter Pinterest 5 Historical Landmarks that Tell the Stories of Ginosa Discover the stories of a town in southern Italy where the inhabitants were living in rock-cut caves for centuries; from the time of the Romans to the not so distant past. Ginosa – a town off the beaten track, even for Puglia. Thomas Dowson Last Checked and/or Updated 15 December 2021 No Comments Italy Travel Tips & Ideas Like many towns in Puglia, Ginosa owes its fascination to its geographical location as much as its history. Both the physical and historical aspects of the town are immediately visible. In fact the two are intertwined, and have been for centuries. Many, many thousands of years ago a u-shaped bend in a river, as it meanders its way towards the Gulf of Taranto (about 20km away), created a spur of land that has obviously been very attractive to successive inhabitants of Ginosa. Over the centuries people have built on this spur and in the horseshoe-shaped ravine giving Ginosa its distinctive character today. These five historical landmarks are a great way to discover that character. Peucetian Funerary Structure Perhaps not as prominent as some of the other landmarks, but significant nonetheless. On the edge of the square in front of the town hall are the oldest remains of human habitation on view in Ginosa. Just below street level and underneath a row of holm oak trees is a series of Peucetian tombs, left exposed and visible through glass covers. Little is known about the Peucetians. They are one of three Iapygian populations that occupied what is Puglia today; the other two being the Daunians and Messapians. Some archaeologists have suggested that the Iapygians are descendants of the Illyrians, who crossed the Adriatic Sea and settled in southern Italy during the 9th century BC. Whatever their origins, artefacts excavated by archaeologists show they were in close contact with the nearby Greek colonies, such as Metaponto and Taranto. It was the Roman defeat of these Greek colonies in southern Italy in the Phyrric War (280 to 275 BC) that lead to the incorporation of the region into the Roman Republic. During the construction of the square in front of the Ginosa’s town hall, builders came across a Peucetian funerary complex. The necropolis was excavated by archaeologists and left open, but covered with protect glass structures to enable people to see the different types of tombs. One limestone sarcophagus stands above ground on the square; a few others can be seen in their original place within the tombs. Troglodyte Village Along the sides of the ravine as it snakes its way around the town are the ruins of rock-cut settlements so distinctive of Ginosa. These are the settlements of people who cut their houses and churches into the rock. The best place to visit these dwellings is on the eastern side of the town, in the Rione di Rivolta. Towards the end of the 5th century AD when the Roman Empire came under attack from the Goths and other Germanic tribes attacking Rome, the open plains were no longer safe. And it was then that people sought refuge in the relatively safer ravines. The soft, limestone bedrock made it easy to cut into the sides of the ravines to create places to live that were easier to protect against the Goths to begin with, but also the Saracens later. Over the turbulent centuries of the Middle Ages that followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire fully developed communities emerged in these ravines. These early Medieval troglodytes ‘built’ surprisingly complex villages simply by cutting into the rock at different levels. Besides creating domestic spaces – Casa Grotto (cave house), they also cut churches into the sides of the ravines. They also cut channels and cisterns into the rock to supply water.

Grotta Croce, located in Gravina di Laterza, is one of the many karst caves in this suggestive canyon in Puglia. Famous for its natural beauty and historical interest, the cave offers spectacular limestone formations. Explored by speleology enthusiasts and hikers, it is part of the Terra delle Gravine Natural Park, an area rich in biodiversity and characterized by deep ravines and hidden caves. Grotta Croce also has archaeological value, with finds that testify to human presence in ancient times.

Grotta Croce is a natural cavity located in the ravine of Laterza, a deep canyon dug by the river Lato. The cave has a shape resembling a Greek cross and a vault 9 meters high, and is inhabited by many birds, such as kestrels and swifts. It is part of the Lipu Oasis, a protected area for nature conservation

Take a long walk through this valley with the many cave dwellings. You can easily walk back to the starting point through the village.

Cave settlement with more very many cave dwellings. Highly recommended, take your time and enjoy this journey into the past without the usual tourist hype.

The rock settlement of the Loe. La Loe is a torrential shaft that flows into the Gravina at the level of the Pianelle district. Around the canal there are 4 churches and various hypogea, stables and sheepfolds. The group of churches could constitute a monastic settlement of the lauriotic type, organized around a central church, the sanctuary of the Madonna della Murgia or a small rupestrian farmhouse in which, in several phases, several churches follow one another. The structures identified so far in the gully are the crypt of the Canarino, of the Scaletta, of S. Andrea, the sanctuary of the Madonna della Murgia or della Loe; a Neolithic settlement, a considerable number of cisterns, three early medieval necropolises (casket, hypogeum, arcosolium), a defensive wall, a demic settlement, remains of dry construction of the inverted cone type, small tuff and the suggestive road system access.

The Gravina di Ginosa develops around two villages, the Casale and the Rivolta, the latter consisting of over sixty cave houses arranged on five superimposed levels and connected to each other by stairs and paths. On the highest shelf of the Revolt there is the Church of the Santi Medici in which an Ecce Homo is painted while in the center of the two villages there is the Mother Church built on an ancient necropolis and with inside original representations dating back to 1600: suggestive the authentic painting with the very rare representation of pregnant Mary and another of Mary in childbirth.