The church inside the rock cone, linked by a passage to Santa Maria de Idris – and holding the best-preserved paintings of the city’s rock churches.
One rock, two churches
San Giovanni in Monterrone sits in the same rock as Santa Maria de Idris and is linked to it by a passage. Both are visited together. That two churches lie in a single block is no accident: the Monterrone offered enough material, and where one room already existed the next was easier to cut than a first one elsewhere.
The frescoes
In the connecting passage and in the niches, images of saints from several centuries stand close together – partly painted over one another, so that older layers show through at the edges. They are among the best-preserved paintings in the city’s rock churches. Take your time and you will notice the change in visual language: strict, frontal Byzantine figures beside later, more mobile depictions.
The space
Unlike a masonry church, the plan follows the rock. Pillars stand where material had to be left, not where symmetry would have wanted them. Ceilings vary in height, niches in depth. That makes the room irregular and impressive at once – and explains better than any description what sets rock churches apart from built ones.
Practical
Access is by a narrow staircase up the crag. Inside it is cool and the floor uneven. Flash photography is not allowed, for the sake of the frescoes.
Read on
- Santa Maria de Idris – the second church in the same rock
- Santa Lucia alle Malve – more frescoes in the same district
- Rock churches in and around Matera – the overview
