Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: rose-window

The "Abbey of San Galgano" was erected from about 1220 on, near the place, where San Galgano once had lived in a hermitage. Legends tell, that San Galgano had visions. In one vision he arrived accompanied by archangel Michael on top of the Monte Siepi, where he met Jesus and the twelve Apostles. San Galgano planted his sword in the ground, from where nobody could remove it. The Cistercian "Abbey of San Galgano" flourished only for a very short time, already during the 14th century roving mercenaries and plagues let the convent decline. Later the ruins were looted for building materials.

The original settlement of Matera lies in two canyons carved by the Gravina River. This area, the Sassi di Matera, is a complex of cave dwellings carved into the ancient river canyon. The settlement is divided into the districts of Sasso Barisano and Sasso Caveoso. The cave settlements in the area are an exceptional example in the Mediterranean area. Inhabited since the Neolithic Age, Matera can be considered one of the oldest cities in the world. According to Greek, Roman, Langobard, and Byzantine history, which Matera shares with all of southern Italy, Saracens devastated the place in 938. It came under Norman rule in 1043, became a royal seat, and thus achieved considerable wealth. This bloom continued under the subsequent regiments of the Staufer and Anjou, and in 1270 the cathedral of Matera was completed. Already by the late 1800s, Matera's cave dwellings became noted for intractable poverty, poor sanitation, meager working conditions, and rampant disease. In 1948, when the city was hit by malaria, 15,000 people lived in 3,300 rooms. From the 1950s on the residents were relocated to newly built apartment blocks. Since the Sassi are now a museum town, tourism is also becoming increasingly important. Known as la città sotterranea ("the underground city"), the Sassi and the park of the Rupestrian Churches were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. In 2019, Matera was declared a European Capital of Culture. Today Matera has a population of about 60.000, who live in the city "above" the sassi. Dozens of small rock-hewn chapels, churches, and former hermitages are carved into the rocks here. In 1215, nuns in Matera from the Kingdom of Acre and, in 1220, they were granted the chapel of Santa Maria la Nova, previously a Benedictine establishment. In 1229, they began work on a new church as a replacement for this chapel. This was completed in 1236. In 1480, at the time of the Ottoman invasion of Otranto, the nuns abandoned the church, which lay outside the city walls. In 1695, due to the poor state of the nearby parish church, the archbishop of Matera and Acerenza transferred the parish to the abandoned 13th-century church. At the end of the 18th century, due to the deterioration of the three domes over the transept, they were demolished and replaced with vaults. To help contain the thrust of the new superstructure, the façade was lined with a series of arches, leaving visible the original 13th-century portal. The rose-window over the side poral Since I have already uploaded many photos from Matera from previous trips, I will only add a few now. If you want to see more photos from Matera, click here: www.ipernity.com/doc/323415/album/1334046

The area around Giovinazzo had settlements already in Greek times, a place named Natolium was rebuilt in Roman times after it had been completely destroyed during the Punic wars. In the 7th century, it was held by the Lombards, then by the Byzantines, before the Norman conquest started and it developed to a Norman castrum under Robert the Guiscard. The Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta stands on the site of an older church known as "Santa Maria de Episcopio". The cathedral was erected between 1125 and 118 and has this complex Romanesque rose-window.

Todi was founded by the Umbri, in the 8th-7th century BC. The settlement on top of a mountain was named "Tutere". It was conquered by the Romans in 217 BC and changed the name to Tuder. Christianity reached Todi early and already in the 2nd century a bishop resided here. The Ostrogoths took the town after a siege and in 759 the Longobards followed. After negotiations between Pope Paul I and Desiderius, last King of the Lombards and Charlemagne´s father in law, Todi became incorporated into the Duchy of Rome. After Charlemagne had the marriage annulled, he attacked and defeated Desiderius, assumed the title King of the Lombards (774) and disposed of his ex-father in law, who lived from then on in the abbey of Corbie. The Duomo di Todi (aka "Concattedrale della Santissima Annunziata") stands on the site of a Roman temple in the former forum. The earlier church here was almost completely destroyed by a fire in 1190. The rebuilt cathedral was finished in the 14th century, but the structure has been refurbished and altered several times since then. The great rose-window was added in 1513.