The best MTB trails around Massafra

Eternal Tara, forgive us if we have not valued your history and your beauty in a land that has seen you, for centuries, found the ancient Taras by those who fled from a useless war in Greek land.

Splendid farmhouse located on a hill from which you can admire the valley below all the way to the sea

Sandwich and beer, to regain strength

The Church of San Michele in Triglie was built on the Triglio hill, between Crispiano and Statte, between 1722 and 1746, by the will of the Bitetto family, who dedicated this place sacred to San Michele Arcangelo for a family devotion. The building rises above the remains of an ancient cave dedicated to the Saint that can still be visited today and decorated with frescoes by modern era. The church was later called the church of San Michele in Triglie from the name of the Contrada Triglie which hosts it and which takes its name from the ravine of the same name. The new chapel of San Michele in Triglie was instead built at the end of the nineteenth century by the Coneviva family, who inherited the farm from the Blasi family. Various historical events have seen the sacred place stripped of its sacred furnishings, around in 1841 it even became a warehouse / barn and was forbidden to worship in 1958. Thanks to the devotion and perseverance of the Coneviva family, the church was restored and today it is possible to visit it.

South-east of Mottola, in the Gorgone area near the Lamaderchia farm, along the ancient Via Consolare which represents a medieval branch of the Via Appia, stands the jewel in the crown of the Mirabili Grotte di Dio Mottolesi, the rock church of San Nicola, so named by Charles Diehl who was the first to describe it in 1894, an object of devotion for centuries of the local inhabitants, as well as of the Crusaders and pilgrims who travelled to Taranto and Brindisi from the inland regions to embark for the Holy Land. The beauty of its frescoes, cleaned for the first time in 1972 and restored in August 1989, after the vandalism of some heads of the wall icons, have led to it being defined as the Sistine Chapel of the rock civilization in Southern Italy. In truth, in this rock church we find ourselves in front of the most complete and astonishing art gallery of the popular sacred art of Puglia, which manages to fully highlight the testimonies of the various theological and artistic influences of oriental and Latin origin, spanning almost four centuries of the Middle Ages. The church is located on the edge of the ravine and can be accessed via stairs carved into the rock and adapted from the recent iron structure prepared by the Superintendency. A double-ringed lunette surmounts the door to the crypt and on it are visible traces of painted decoration of a half-length haloed figure.

Built in 1938 and erected in 1958, the Parish of San Michele Arcangelo is located in the small village of San Simone (Crispiano-TA). Behind it we find the chapel dedicated to Maria SS.ma del Carmelo built in 1649, as can be seen from the date engraved on the entrance architrave, together with the coat of arms IHS, Iesus Hominum Salvator, Jesus Savior of men. In ancient times it was dedicated to San Filippo Neri, depicted in the apse of the same chapel, next to the Virgin, to the right of the observer, because the entire farmhouse belonged to the homonymous farm, bordering the church. This farm was later called San Simini and still retains this name today. Due to its position in relation to the cow cart, the chapel suggests that in its time it served as a stop and reference point in the transhumance from the Murge towards Salento. The chapel consists of a single small room with barrel vaults and inside there are frescoes: the Virgin of Carmel with Child, on the left St. Thomas the Apostle and St. Michael the Archangel and St. Martin of Tours, on the right St. Philip Neri and St. Simon the Apostle. Above the entrance door stands a beautiful bell tower with a 19th-century bell.

Full speed ahead

Rock sanctuary in the magnificent setting of the Massafra ravine