Chiesa di S. SValentino
The model of the building reminds of one of other Benedictine rural settlements spread in the region. In fact, in the Bitonto area there are similar settlements dating back to the 11th and 12th centuries.They were well accepted by the Normans who, for historical and cultural reasons, used them to defend themselves from Saracens' attacks and as a means of spreading the Western Church traditions throughout the Apulia region. Typically, they are small churches located along the main road axis expanding in a sunburst pattern from the city centre towards the outskirts. They look as if they were meant to rehabilitate and revitalize the existing farmhouses, i. e. typically rural social aggregations, in line with the general economic recovery of those days. The construction works of St. Valentine's church extra moenia (outside the walls), near the city gate porta Robustina, were commissioned by the judge Maior from Bitonto in the mid-12th century. It initially belonged to the Benedictines, who ruled it as a priory, thereafter to the Templar Knights and finally to the clergymen of Bitonto starting from the 16th century. Traditionally, bishops appointed in Bitonto were dressed with pontifical vestments in this church and proceeded in a solemn procession towards the city centre, in order to take the bishop's chair. This church was also known by the name of "St. Mary of the Graces", because during the festivities dedicated to St. Mary of the Graces the people would bring to the church an image of the Virgin Mary, which was usually located in a small countryside church. It is a single nave building covered by aligned domes.The coverings of the two domes are visible externally and are made of pyramidal structures, covered by thin stone slabs similar to the "chiancarelle" and mounted on square lanterns. The facade, looking east-west for liturgical reasons, is made of local stones and features a simple portal with an archivolt supported by two little lateral shelves and surmounted by a circular window. On the eastern side, hidden by more recent buildings, is the church apse with a central one-light window. The apse was once decorated with the now lost fresco of the Virgin of the Graces with St. Valentine and St. Charles. The apse seems to be designed with a radius whose centre is positioned beyond the walls in which it is placed. The domed bell tower has more recent origins. Inside the church there is a single nave with two sober and simple square bays that underline the perfect symmetry and simplicity of the domes' walls, built with consecutive concentric rings closed by the keystone. Every bay is delimited by four large arches, which the two simple domes covering the nave are mounted on through pendentives. On both sides of the nave we find other halls: one of them, possibly the sacristy, features a barrel vault.