Soccorpo della Cattedrale (Chiesa di Santa Croce)

Beneath Gravina in Puglia's cathedral lies a second church: the Soccorpo, also known as Santa Croce or Lamia dei Morti. Square pillars and twelve round arches divide its three naves; fresco fragments, bishops' tombs and a painted blue vault survive in the underground space.

Why it matters

For centuries, the Soccorpo served as Gravina's burial church. Eight bishops were buried here between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, and worship continued until 1962. The names used for the hypogeum—Soccorpo, Lamia dei Morti, Cimitero and Santa Croce—reflect its several functions and the confraternity founded in 1703 by Bishop Cavalieri.

What to notice

The central nave's blue vault bears late-Baroque plant motifs and cartouches with verses from the Psalms and the Book of Job on hope in resurrection. Beside the San Giuseppe altar are fragments of sixteenth-century frescoes. A fifteenth- or sixteenth-century wooden crucifix hangs on the counter-façade, and stone statues of Saint Dominic and Saint Anthony Abbot flank the central altar. Seventeenth-century maiolica tiles run alongside tiles from Gravina's kiln, established in 1773. A 1541 stone slab commemorates Emilio Guida, a cavalry commander under Charles V.

Context and history

The oldest gravestone is dated 1531, while the first written description of the space appears in Bishop Filippo Cansacchi's pastoral visit of 1639–1640. The hypogeum served as an ossuary and burial place. Pope Benedict XIII, born Pietro Francesco Orsini in Gravina, ordered the crowded common burial pit cleared and the tombs reduced from seventy-two to twelve, reserving the central area for prelates. The underground church mirrors the cathedral's plan and was used for worship until 1962, before restoration brought it back into public view.