Nestled in the quiet of the Apulian rural landscape, on the edge of the village of Casamassima, the Badia di San Lorenzo represents one of the oldest and most striking examples of sacred architecture in the area. Of Byzantine origin and founded, according to sources in the archives of the Basilica of St. Nicholas of Bari, before 984 AD, the abbey was born as a Benedictine center and today preserves only the ancient church.
The building, recently recovered thanks to the efforts of the Casamassima Archeoclub, has a simple but harmonious stone facade, characterized by a door with shaped jambs, topped by a small prothyrum with a niche and a bell gable. The interior consists of a single-cell room with a rectangular plan (3.56 x 12.40 meters), covered by a barrel vault and concluded by a small semicircular apse.
Inside one can still see traces of ancient frescoes, which decorated the vault and apse, evidence of the spiritual fervor that once animated this place. The structure, made of large stone ashlars, retains the traditional double-pitched roof with terracotta tiles, typical of medieval rural religious building.
Every year, on August 10, the abbey comes back to life thanks to the celebrations in honor of San Lorenzo, the saint to whom it is dedicated: a moment of strong participation for the local community, which renews the memory and devotion in a place charged with history and spirituality.
