Side view of the church of Santa Maria del Barsento: Noci, Apulia
On the top of a hill overlooking a wide valley, where the communication routes connecting the Adriatic to the Ionian Sea cross, stands the abbey of Barsento. Founded in 591 at the behest of Saint Silvia, mother of Pope Gregory the Great, this abbey church has for centuries been a garrison of faith and culture in a strategic territory.