The basilica of the Madonna dei Martiri is a church in Molfetta, about two kilometres from the town on the road towards Bisceglie, near the CEP district.
What to see
The original core of the church, which in today's layout corresponds only to the area of the high altar, was begun in 1162. The present church does not coincide with the original one: around 1830 the building underwent major alterations. It has been a minor basilica since 1987. Beside it stands a three-aisled building commonly called the «Crusaders' Hospital», what remains of the old «Hospital dedicated to Saint Mary and the holy martyrs», built after 1162, where pilgrims stopped while passing through Molfetta on the journey to and from Jerusalem; «hospital» is to be understood here in the etymological sense of hospitalis, a place of welcome and refreshment for body and mind.
Inside are paintings, among them the image of the Madonna dei Martiri, brought by the Crusaders in 1188, particularly dear to the people of Molfetta and above all to its sailors. Other works include the Madonna of the Rosary of 1574, attributed to Michele Damasceno, the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Death of Saint Joseph, an Adoration of the Magi and a wooden statue of Most Holy Mary of the Martyrs made in 1840.
Visiting
The basilica is about two kilometres from the centre of Molfetta, in the direction of Bisceglie, near the CEP district. The sources consulted give no opening hours or visiting arrangements: check them.
Our editors' tip
To the right of the high altar, in a cramped crypt reached by going down a few steep stone steps, is a faithful reproduction of the Holy Sepulchre, made at his own expense by the Molfetta notary Francesco Lepore before 1497, the year in which he is recorded as already dead, with 62 stones which, it is said, he had brought from the Holy Land.
