Casalrotto (

medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functione ...

: ''Casal Ruptum'') was a medieval village (''

casalis In the Middle Ages, a ''casalis'' or ''casale'' (Latin and Italian; Old French/ Spanish ''casal''), plural ''casalia'' (''casali'', ''casales''), was "a cluster of houses in a rural setting". The word is not classical Latin, but derives from the La ...

'') in the

Murge The Altopiano delle Murge (Italian for "Murge plateau") is a karst topographic plateau of rectangular shape in southern Italy. Most of it lies within Apulia and corresponds with the sub-region known as Murgia or Le Murge. The plateau lies mainl ...

in southern Italy between the 11th and 14th centuries. The remains of the village are located in a ravine beside an 18th-century farmhouse southwest of

Mottola Mottola ( nap, label= Mottolese, Mòtele, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Taranto and region of Apulia in southeast Italy. It stands on a hill above mean sea level in the sub-region of Murgia. It is also called "The Ionian Spy" ...

.G. Di Giacomo, L. De Giorgi, I. Ditaranto, G. Leucci, I. Miccoli and G. Scardozzi, "The Medieval Cave Village of Casalrotto (Mottola, Apulia): New Data on the Settlement and Its Necropolis from Archaeological and Geophysical Measurements", ''Measurement'' 128 (2018): 96–103. The village is generally thought to have grown up around the church of Sant'Angelo. This was probably a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

foundation of the

Byzantine period The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. Following the Norman conquest of Apulia, a policy of "latinization" and "catholicization" was adopted. In 1081, the ''monasterium Sancti Angeli in Casali Rupto'' was granted to the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery of La Trinità della Cava dei Tirreni. The dedication to

Michael the Archangel Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

, suggests that the church served a Lombard population, as the Lombards were especially devoted to that saint.Sergio Natale Maglio (2020)
"Il monastero benedettino di Casalrotto"
Comune di Mottola. In 1231, a judicial panel composed of Henry of Morra, Roffredo di San Germano and Pier della Vigna confirmed that Casalrotto belonged to La Cava against the claims of the nobleman Gualtiero Gentile.Hubert Houben
"Enrico di Morra"
''Enciclopedia Federiciana'' (Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani, 2005). Casalrotto consists of about one hundred natural karst caves enlarged by human action to make residences and other spaces. Many residential caves had wooden partitions and carved niches. They also often had vegetable gardens enclosed by dry stone walls. Northwest of the residential area is a necropolis. To the northeast is a cave with traces of paint that might have been the church of Santa Maria, built between 1155 and 1165. To the southwest is the church of Sant'Angelo, a two-storey cave church with frescos from the 12th–14th centuries. Some of the residential caves, partially collapsed, had been reused as reservoirs in the 16th and 17th centuries. Today, the site lies in the park. Archaeological investigations were undertaken in 1979 and 1982. There was evidence of decline already by the 13th century.

References

External links

*{{cite web , url=https://www.visitmottola.com/itinerari/i-villaggi-rupestri/villaggio-rupestre-casalrotto , title=Il Villaggio Rupestre di Casalrotto , website=Visita Mottola Archaeological sites in Apulia Medieval archaeological sites in Europe 11th-century establishments in Italy Populated places established in the 11th century Populated places disestablished in the 14th century