Santa Maria di Pulsano Abbey - Abbeys, convents and monasteries

Abbeys, convents and monasteries

Via Abbazia di Pulsano - 71037 Monte Sant'Angelo (FG)

Built on the remains of an ancient pagan building, the Abbey of Santa Maria di Pulsano not far from Monte Sant'Angelo is a spectacular stone structure surrounded by mighty perimeter walls between gray rocks and overhangs over 200 meters deep. Built in Romanesque style in 591, the church was obtained from a natural cave which serves as an apse and inside it has a single nave with a barrel vault interrupted by large transverse arches. Laterally, two sectors of the cave house the tomb of Abbot Giordano and an altar incorporated in a small masonry building with a sloping roof. Outside the Abbey it is still visible part of a fountain considered a baptismal font or a small temple built for the refreshment of pilgrims and numerous hermitages often accessible only through ladders and ropes. Today usable again after the restoration work, the abbey is the scene of the characteristic festival on 8 September when the faithful leave in procession from Monte Sant'Angelo reaching the complex on the back of mules.