Italy -> Apulia    

Rupestrian Civilization in Apulia

Travelling through Apulia, especially between Taranto and Matera, one is struck by the tufaceous valleys which characterize the slopes of the Murges towards the sea.

Along these tufaceous slopes, in ravines and caves, were found the images of saints, of wonder-working warriors, of virgin martyrs, the solemn faces of Christ, and kind, maternal madonnas dressed in the gorgeous costumes of Byzantine empresses.
If one penetrates the magical world of the ravines today one is not in search of the frescoed spaces of the underground churches and the architectural beauties of the vaults worked by unknown stonemasons.