San Mauro Abbey

The Abbey of San Mauro is all that remains of the monastery that the Basilian monks built on the highest point of the Ionian plateau, a precious architectural testament erected before the 12th century.\n\nThe sober linear facade and the bell tower house remarkable frescoes inside. The small church is divided into three naves by six imposing pillars, painted with the faces of saints. The medieval paintings also extend over the barrel vault of the central nave and the half-barrel vaults of the side naves, while in the apse Christ is depicted flanked by two angels.\n\nThe monks, who settled in an area rich in caves, came to own several lands, also the result of numerous donations that extended from Casarano to Ugento, making the Abbey of San Mauro the center of Eastern religiosity of the time.