The best MTB trails around Bisceglie

Beautifully restored memorial

It is easier to get there from Molfetta but the walk from Ripalta to Torre Calderina is pleasant.

For those of you, who wonder why St. Nicolas of Myra, a Turkish born Christian Saint, who has never been to Bari and might never have left his corner of Turkey at all, is also known as St. Nicolas of Bari, listen up. A group of merchants from the Italian city of Bari removed the major bones of Nicholas's skeleton from his sarcophagus in the St. Nicolas Church in Myra (today's Demre) without authorization and brought them to their hometown, where they are now enshrined in the Basilica di San Nicola. The remaining bone fragments from the sarcophagus were later removed by Venetian sailors and taken to Venice during the First Crusade.

Small and quaint

It is accessed along the road that runs alongside the S.S. 16 bis. Take Strada Santa Lucia on the right and continuing you will find the church on the left.

Small in size and unadorned, it comes alive only on the occasion of the feast of St. Lucia. Inside the temple you can see the stone statue of the Saint, an 18th century work by the Giovinazzese sculptor Antonio Altieri. The building today consists of a single large rectangular room, which internally measures m. 8.60 x 4.90; it is oriented with the axis along the north – south direction and is equipped with another small room of an almost trapezoidal shape which measures on average m. 3.80 x 3.20, leaning on one side against the north wall of the church and serving as a sacristy. The building is covered with barrel vaults and has an intermediate height of m. 4 measured from the floor to the intrados of the vaults. The altar is placed on the south wall, while at the ends of the two long walls there are: the apse to the east and the main entrance door to the west. Undoubtedly in its current state, the church has a rather unusual position compared to classic Christian churches, as the main door is on the side and not in front of the altar. However, by observing the floor with some attention, we note that it is virtually the result of the fusion of a well-defined rectangle, including the door and the apse, and a square symmetrically attached to the south, and which contains the presbytery area. Furthermore, by raising your eyes and observing the vaults, you can better notice the connection of these corresponding exactly to the union of the two floor areas. The complex is made up of three distinct bodies: the small Romanesque church, the square room in which the presbytery area with the altar is arranged and the small room that serves as a sacristy. It is one of the oldest churches built, according to tradition, on the ruins of a Gentile temple dedicated to Diana. From the 17th century until the last century, it was called "Santa Lucia in Marasco or Marsico". Until the 15th century it belonged to the Marsico Abbey in Abruzzo. Next to the church there was a monastery of friars of the order of minor observants, formed around the 15th century. In 1478, due to a disastrous plague, the farmhouse was abandoned and later due to the wars between the French and the Spanish, the convent was also closed. The church of S. Lucia belongs to the Cathedral Chapter.

Its structure is typical of the entire group of rural buildings. The type, which can be called "contracted cross", has a single hall covered by barrel vaults, interrupted in the center by a dome on arches that form a sort of small arm of a cross. Outside the arm is clearly highlighted by the line of roofs. The dome is covered on the outside by a chiancarelle pyramid. Constructions of this type are found, with variations in the area, throughout the eastern Mediterranean basin (Cyprus, Crete, Cyclades Islands) and testify to the existence of a very ancient common basis of language. His artistic style, probably of oriental derivation, follows the Romanesque style in Puglia. It is small in size and is built in rustic local stone. It has an architraved door without frames on the front. Today it is in a serious state of decay; It is used for storing agricultural tools and products. The church was built between the 9th and 11th centuries, before the arrival of the Normans in Puglia. In the Byzantine period (876 – 1071) the Basilian monks spread throughout Puglia and where they found natural tufaceous or limestone caves with little humidity they settled in small communities adapting them to the cult, as can be observed in Gravina di Puglia, in Andria, in Mottola, in Massafra, where chiancarelle abound, i.e. thin limestone slabs, already used by our builders for trulli and haystacks. The church of San Basilio, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, stands near the border with Bitonto, is characterized by a crossed quadrilateral, with ships orthogonal to each other and four isolated supports at the crossing points, there is a similarity with the church of San Salvatore by Rometta Messinese. It is accessed by taking the local road of Padre Eterno and passing the motorway overpass, taking a road on the left which, after two consecutive turns to the right, leads to the church.

It is accessed by taking the local road of Padre Eterno and passing the motorway overpass, taking a road on the left which, after two consecutive turns to the right, leads to the church.