Sanctuary of St. Cosimo

The sanctuary of San Cosimo is located about 5 km from the town of Oria. It is an important center of worship linked to the Saints Medici, patrons of Oria, and whose importance transcends the “borders” of Salento. The current sanctuary heavily restored in the twentieth century and in recent years (the façade of the sanctuary is dated 1900), in reality probably begin during the ninth century when there was a small church of Byzantine monks. A medieval cemetery dating back to that period was highlighted in the west of the present church. From the eighteenth century on, the complex was affected by strong changes, which now make invisible the original shape of the sanctuary. connected
the sanctuary has a museum with votive offerings of the faithful. This shrine is so important because in Oria houses numerous relics of the Medici Saints. Solemn celebrations are planned every year on the fifth Thursday after Easter, during the famous ‘Pirdunanzi’.
Important is the presence of the ethnographic museum, the first for the number of stored objects in Southern Italy