santuario, "ab antiquo", Madonna della Grotta

The Santuario della Madonna della Grotta sits roughly three kilometres from Modugno, along the road to Carbonara, cut into a bank of the Lama Lamasinata. It is a rupestrian church, carved directly into a natural cavity, its origins lost in the deep past. A document from 1189 records it as “Sanctae Mariae de Cripta Maiore,” but the first religious settlement here cannot be precisely dated. The site is typical of the Murgia region, where the limestone is riddled with such hypogeal dwellings, hollowed out by water over millennia. In the medieval period, a Benedictine monastery was built above ground, connected to the grotto church below. The main festival falls on Easter Monday, when a secular tradition brings pilgrims to spend the day at the sanctuary. Other celebrations include a triduum for Saint Annibale Maria di Francia in early June, and another for San Corrado of Bavaria, patron of Molfetta, in March, when oil for the lamp is offered jointly by the twinned cities of Modugno and Molfetta.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.