Of the many types of churches that the Christian community has built over the course of the centuries, cave churches really stand out. Often built by some of the earliest Christian communities, they reveal precious insights into how early believers would gather to worship and pray. Not too far from the shores of Lake Verano, in the southern Italian region of Apulia, lies one of the best preserved yet least known cave churches of Europe. 

Probably built in the 5th century, the cave church of St. Michael Archangel was excavated out of one of the limestone caverns that dot the peninsula that makes up the Gargano National Park in Apulia. As explained by travel blog Bewitched by Italy, during the 5th century, devotion to St. Michael was particularly strong in this region, with many shrines built in honor of the Archangel.