Monasteries and Convents in Apulia

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In Italy, the monks and nuns usually find the best places to live. Their retreats are often located in exquisite rural settings where peace and nature reign. Many can be visited and some offer accommodations. Staying in a monastery can be a very fulfilling experience, if you remember it is not a hotel. Monks and nuns offer hospitality as part of their vows, in exchange for a small donation and a reasonable amount of respect. In return, you can plunge into another century and come away feeling physically and spiritually refreshed.

• Abbazia di Santa Maria della Scala. Established in 1930 in a romanesque church outside the town of Noci, this is the most southerly Benedictine abbey on mainland Italy. The 32 monks who live here work their flourishing farmland, but they are more renowned for their exquisite restorations of books (they saved 5,000 volumes damaged in the infamous floods of Florence). Men can stay in the monastery itself (address your requests to Father Felice Magazzino); women stay in a lovely villa on the grounds (write to Father Roberto Coriddi). Write to Abbazia di S. Maria della Scala, Noci (BA); tel. 39-080-737400.

• Santuario di San Michele. One of the oldest sacred spots in Italy, this 7th-century sanctuary sits high atop a hill overlooking the gleaming Gargano sea coast 2500 feet below. Built on the spot where St. Michael supposedly appeared in the fifth century, it was the last place visited by generations of Crusaders before setting sail for the Holy Land. The great bronze doors, the 13th-century bell tower and the stone bishop's throne are visited each years by thousands of pilgrims; you can join them and stay on in the large guest house on the grounds. Write to Santuario di S. Michele, Monte S. Angelo (FG); tel./fax 39-0884-561-150.

• Convento di San Matteo. This Franciscan monastery was a way station for medieval pilgrims headed to the nearby San Michele sanctuary. It boasts a wonderful 16th-century cloister, a spectacular view of the valley below, and home made liqueurs produced by the monks themselves. Located in San Marco in Lamis (FG), tel. 39-0882-831101.

• Monastero di Santa Maria della Consolazione. This 17th-century Cistercian abbey has a baroque church and a simple cloister. Surrounded by orchards, it hosts a small community of monks who distill their own liqueurs. Located in Martano, near Lecce.

• Rustic shrines and sanctuaries. In the area around the town of Massafrà are located several rural crypts and shrines decorated with proto-Christian frescoes and surrounded by hillside caves where the monks formerly stored their medicinal herbs; often they survived here by lowering baskets to charitable passersby. The most stunning sanctuary is Santa Maria della Scala, a gleaming white jewel carved into the cave-lined hills. Reached by descending a 125-step baroque staircase, it has beautiful Byzantine decorations.

Convents offering hospitality throughout Italy, including Rome, Florence and Venice, are listed in our newsletter.

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