"Site closed. If it is possible to visit it would be good to post the information nearby because the site seems undeveloped. I had read old comments dating from 2020 and 2023 but when I arrived on site the site no longer seems to be maintained given the vegetation at the back. So check before going there, especially if you are going on foot from the center."

Pirrello Carmelo

"Beautiful crypt about a kilometer away from the town of Ugento. The museum guide accompanied us and also gave us excellent directions and curiosities of the site. It was possible to buy the cumulative ticket of 8 euros, with the castle and the museum. Worth the visit."

paolo mazza

"Returning to the asphalt road, immediately south of the intersection between the road to Melissano and the road to Casarano, is the Cripta del Crocefisso, which gives its name to the entire town; the crypt was located near the main road that went north from Ugento, probably dating back to the Messapian era. The underground area, located beneath a 16th century chapel, is accessed via a steep staircase with a barrel vault, preceded by a portal; at the foot of the staircase, the entrance is surmounted by a frescoed lunette with the scene of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.
The current appearance of the small rock church, with a trapezoidal plan, with a mostly flat ceiling of an average height of 2 m and supported by two columns, is the result of a renovation dating back to the 16th-17th century, the period in which the chapel above was also built. A modern block altar is located on the north-east wall, a step-seat on the opposite wall and a light hole is located in the south-east corner. The access, which originally came from the west, from the quarry front that delimits the rocky core in which the chapel was built, was, during the renovation, closed by a wall. Restoration and excavation work carried out in 2004-2005 allowed the examination of this primitive entrance, outside of which some medieval pit tombs were brought to light.
The walls and ceiling are covered with frescoes dating from between the 13th and 17th centuries, accompanied by inscriptions in Greek and Latin. The oldest pictorial cycle includes an Annunciation, a Christ Pantocrator, a Virgin of Tenderness and a Madonna Enthroned from the end of the 13th century and a Saint Nicholas from the beginning of the 14th century, all frescoed on the walls; on the ceiling, in the 13th century. astral elements, six- and eight-pointed stars, real and fantastic animals, floral and plant motifs, red crossed shields and black crossed shields were painted. These last elements have been seen as an allusion, respectively, to the Templars and the Teutonic Knights, who, according to some scholars, commissioned the decoration. It has recently been hypothesized that its realization could be ascribed to the will of a local private family. Also attributable to the first decorative phase are some remains of frescoes found near the original entrance and in other points of the hypogeum; a Crucifixion painted above the altar and the aforementioned Presentation at the Temple made along the steps of the new access to the rock church are instead pertinent to a second pictorial intervention, dated to the 17th century."

Roberto Spennato