Archaeological Park of the Messapian Walls - Fonte Pliniano

The Fonte Pliniano is still one of the symbols of the city (it is also represented in the city coat of arms), almost certainly from the Messapian era, it was described by Pliny the Elder (from whom it later took its name) in his Naturalis Historia. It is a well located inside a natural cave 18 meters in diameter and 8 meters wide which can be reached by going down 20 steps carved into the rock. On the vault of the cave there is a square skylight, a cylindrical structure from which an almond tree grows (according to centuries-old legend) from which the light necessary to illuminate the environment penetrates. From the well and the adjacent basin water constantly flows from an underground aquifer. In ancient times the Fonte Pliniano was also used as a place of worship for a Messapian deity. Also included in the archaeological park, it probably dates back to the Hellenistic age, a time when it was a chamber tomb. Subsequently, between the 8th and 9th centuries, the underground crypt was built, used for the Byzantine cult; the upper church, however, dates back to between the 10th and 12th centuries. In a subsequent era the church was abandoned until 1724, when the then bishop of Oria decided to have it restored (there is also a plaque attesting to this). The church, oriented in an east-west direction, according to the Greek rite, has two naves and two apses divided by three pillars. It is also divided into two rooms by a large central arch. Of these two rooms, one has a domed vault, while the other has a barrel vault. Along the walls of the church and the crypt below there are frescoes depicting saints which are difficult to date (perhaps from the Byzantine era) due to the heavy renovations in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1972, some medieval tombs were discovered under the floor of the building