ABBAZIA DI SAN MICHELE

Situated in the woods above Lago Piccolo, the abbey was founded around a cave, where Byzantine monks fleeing iconoclastic persecution in the East worshipped the Archangel Michael. It was then consecrated to the Catholic rite at the Council of Melfi in 1059. The Benedictines settled here, replaced in the 17th century by the Capuchins, who maintained the building in its present form. The primitive rock chapel is splendid and contains many beautiful Byzantine and medieval frescoes. Beautiful panorama of Lake Monticchio.