Grotta di San Michele

The cave of San Michele is located in a valley crossed by the course of the river Clanio. It's a cave hermitic. Between the 13th and 14th centuries, as it appears from the paintings, there was a central chapel dedicated to worship micaelico, attributable to the Lombard era. Along the eastern wall of the chapel of S. Michele there is a masonry tank that collects water coming from the overlying stalactite formation. Frescoes are preserved on the walls of the cave they have been dated from the ea read more

The cave of San Michele is located in a valley crossed by the course of the river Clanio. It's a cave hermitic. Between the 13th and 14th centuries, as it appears from the paintings, there was a central chapel dedicated to worship micaelico, attributable to the Lombard era. Along the eastern wall of the chapel of S. Michele there is a masonry tank that collects water coming from the overlying stalactite formation. Frescoes are preserved on the walls of the cave they have been dated from the early Christian era to the modern age. Although they lack the elements that can confirm the use of the Avellana cave since the early Christian age, much less the certainty that the church rock constitutes an example of Christianization of a pre-existing place of pagan worship of the waters, however there is evidence that Clanio was venerated as a local divinity in the area north of Avella. At some sources that flow into the river, there was a fountain sanctuary frequented by half from the 5th century BC up to II-I BC, where Hercules, protector of springs as well as gods, seems to have been venerated shepherds. The water that drips from the stalactite formation, in the innermost part of the cave, had to be strictly functional to the cult of the Archangel who is also considered the patron saint of the waters rivers. read less