Cripta bizantina

The Byzantine Crypt lies beside the north flank of Castro's cathedral, about two metres below street level. The small underground church has paired columns, a barrel vault and surviving traces of painted figures.

Why it matters

The municipality describes the crypt as a Byzantine-era church built over an earlier palaeo-Christian structure. Set beside the Romanesque cathedral, it preserves a distinct layer of the religious history of Castro Alta.

What to notice

The plan is described as a Greek cross inscribed in a square. Two pairs of columns support the barrel vault and two smaller arches. A church cistern, described in the municipal account as a cisterna a chiesa, forms part of the complex. Fresco fragments depict figures identified by the town as Saint Onuphrius, Saint John the Baptist and the Redeemer.

Context and history

The chamber was used as a cemetery in the eighteenth century and was later buried beneath the growing town. It was rediscovered and consolidated during restoration work on the cathedral in 1953. The municipal heritage account dates the church to the eighth and ninth centuries and compares it with the crypt church of San Pietro in Otranto.