Sanctuary of Sant’Antonio alla Macchia

The Sanctuary of Sant'Antonio alla Macchia, surrounded by a splendid forest of Aleppo pines that extends over almost 40 hectares of Mediterranean scrub, just outside San Pancrazio Salentino, is a true oasis of spirituality, where one can find the right heartbeat and that inner peace that comes from being in touch with nature.
The Sanctuary appears as a complex of buildings designed to welcome the many pilgrims who visit it every year, the beating heart of which is the small church at the front, built in 1867, now dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua, but originally dedicated to St. Anthony Abbot, one of the fathers of Eastern monasticism, as evidenced by a fresco depicting the Saint in the tuff grotto in front of it.
This evocative crypt, dug out of the tuff at a depth of about two metres, bears witness to the passage of several settlements of Byzantine monks who made the site a pilgrimage destination in the 6th and 7th centuries. The hypogeum has two rooms, one dedicated to the liturgy, where the tuff altar stands out, and the other with benches carved into the wall for the ordinary prayer of the faithful; on the walls there are alternating niches and engraved crosses. Other evidence of the ancient settlement is the nearby natural cave of karst origin, the remains of which show its function over time, first as a monastic dwelling, then as an underground oil mill and food store.
The small church, on the other hand, shows its more recent face, with simple stone and linear architecture. The nave, with large rounded arches on the sides to which the windows face, ends with a wall-mounted altar where the neoclassical niche with the statue of St. Anthony of Padua triumphs. 
The Sanctuary, immersed in the tranquillity of the countryside protected by this ancient wood, is not only a place of pilgrimage, but also a favourite place for locals and foreigners alike to spend festive days in tranquillity, sharing the simplicity of a picnic on the lawn.