THE HISTORY OF THE ABBESSES
A history spanning nearly 600 years. Women of noble class, obliged and indoctrinated for centuries from an early age to the destiny of monastic life, often a life imposed and almost never chosen, forced into the cage of seclusion. With legitimate concession, the abbess became "bishop" of Castellana and this power lasted uninterruptedly, even amid disputes and disputes, from 1266 to 1810 in the monastery of San Benedetto in Conversano.
The protagonists are a group of Cistercian Benedictine nuns, who fled from Greece, from the monastery of Santa Maria "de Viridario" of Methoni', who landed at the port of Brindisi and were granted protection and concession by the Monastery of San Benedetto in Conversano at the behest of Pope Clement IV and annexed episcopal powers and dignity, thus effectively replacing the bishop; they exercised temporal and spiritual authority over Castellana and beyond; only these women were allowed to freely manage both the feudal rights on the land of Castellana and the canonical ones, that is, the destiny of the local Church.
HISTORY OF HAND KISSING
The kiss as a sign of respect and devotion, also a sign of awe. An exclusively male ceremony which, with the legitimacy of the Pope, was imposed on priests, including those from Castellanesi; who had to prostrate themselves to the regent of the Monastery of Conversano. A ceremony of "Kissing hands for the Abbesses", which seems to have been introduced around the year 1577, was instituted as a sign of homage; evident testimony of the spiritual subjection of the clergy, to which the priests were obliged, an opportunity to remind the priests of the territory of direct obedience to the abbesses even with the delivery of a "tax".
PROJECT ORIGINS
The Pro Loco "Don Nicola Pellegrino" of Castellana Grotte in 2018 with the first edition and in 2022 with the second edition, launched an ambitious project: "making ugliness beautiful" through the creation, in the ancient village, of an open air gallery open to anyone at any time of the year, accessible and free. The project which sees the adhesion of various owners of premises and houses who freely grant the use of their doors for "The doors of the abbess" which involves various emerging and established painters from the province of Bari, who armed with brushes, palettes and colours, have transformed the worn entrance doors, rotten wood, rusty iron, mostly abandoned, of some rooms in the historic centre, into true master paintings. Through this original cultural and at the same time urban decorum operation, the Pro Loco aims to make important periods of the city's history known. "The road of the abbesses" has been traced, now it must be followed. It just depends on us.
PUBLICATION "THE BACIA MANO ANCIENT RECIPE BOOK"
A publication created by the Pro Loco "Don Nicola Pellegrino" of Castellana Grotte, on the occasion of the second edition of the "Doors of the Abbess" which contains a wise guide for the knowledge of some little-known but equally fascinating pages of local history on the history of the " Badesse Mitrate” and the “Baciamani” ceremony carried out by Dr. Antonio Fanizzi, a scholar of local history. A publication in an original format, as by turning the book upside down, on the opposite side, there is a valuable study by Professor Enza Aurisicchio (reworking of the text published in the magazine Riflessioni Umanesimo della Pietra July 2003 and 2004 directed by Nico Blasi published in Martina Franca) on the ancient and delicious recipes of the cloistered nuns of the late nineteenth century, almost always handed down orally from generation to generation and which instead, in a rare case, this time are reported in a recipe book compiled in 1887 by Angelina Brunetti, the author's great-grandmother, as well as a student of Episcopal college of Conversano run by the Benedictines.
HISTORICAL NOTES
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