The hermitage of San Cataldo is built in an enormous cavity in the granite rock tin Cottanello.
Its origins are older than the tenth century when it was a place of hermitage of the Benedictine monks.
San Cataldo lived between VI-VII century AD and died in Taranto during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Legend has it that the saint took refuge in the hermitage to escape Aryan persecution, but more likely his veneration was brought about by soldiers who had fought in 1497 in Taranto.
In the small chapel you can admire the fresco of the Redeemer, in the Byzantine style of the ninth century, and other fifteenth-century frescoes depicting the Madonna and Child with Bishop Saints.
In the fresco of the Redeemer there are clear references to St. Francis of Assisi, as the symbol of the saint, the Greek “TAU”. It is certain that between 1217 and 1223 saint Francis stopped in Cottanello.
The fresco was discovered only in 1944, when German sappers blew up the bridge below.
The hermitage miraculously remained intact, but the explosion cracked open a fresco of the 1700 depicting the country, under which was hidden the precious painting.
The staircase was built in 1888 and before they used the old road to the “Prati di Cottanello”, now part of the Way of St. Francis.
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