ABBAZIA SANTA MARIA DI CERRATE
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Benedictine abbey with a Romanesque church and a former convent transformed into a museum.
On the road that connects the villages of Squinzano and Casalabate, discover this jewel of Salento, isolated in the countryside. This graceful Benedictine abbey, dating back to the 12th century, includes a Romanesque church and a former convent transformed into a museum. The portal attracts attention with its vegetal decorations and its 13th century prothiron decorated with high reliefs. The facade of the church has a beautiful central rose window, and a portico with fine columns and figurative capitals backs onto its left side.
Inside, the structure of the building is divided into three naves and three apses. The side walls and apses are covered with magnificent frescoes in Byzantine style, dating from the 12th and 14th centuries. Some more recent frescoes (15th century) are closer to the Renaissance taste. In the central apse there is a Christ in glory with angels and saints, and in the one on the right there is a bust of Saint John the Baptist. Other highlights of the church are the splendid high altar and its ciborium.
The Museum of Popular Traditions of Salento (Museo delle tradizioni popolari salentine), housed in the monastery buildings, exhibits other frescoes detached from the walls of the church to ensure better conservation. They represent saints, the Annunciation, St. George and the Princess. The museum also displays tools once used in the rural world, for example for the production of olive oil.
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