This excavation was undertaken during the restoration of the church connected to the grotto of S. Michele Arcangelo and the sandstone ridge on the edge of which the abbey is situated. Due to a lack of funding attention was focused on the rock-cut structure known as Ipogeo n.1, which precedes the church. The structure is entirely cut into the sandstone tufa on which Orsara stands. This investigation provided a solid base for the continuation of research into the development of the first settlements at Orsara, in particular the monastic ones which lead to the construction of the abbey and the diffusion of the cult of S. Michele in this part of the southern Daunian sub-Appennines. This underground structure is the first of its type to be fully investigated in this remote part of Daunia in contrast to the situation in Gargano peninsula, where they are widespread and their presence is easily explained by its proximity to the Balkans where these structures originated and spread with the diffusion of Christianity. In fact, it seems reasonable to assume that this grotto was occupied by eastern monks who, although hermits, were part of the primitive Christian community which had developed perhaps following the example of nearby Eca, or perhaps founded directly by the latter. This would also explain the establishment of the cult of the Archangel Michael,, first favoured by the Byzantines and then by the Lombards and Normans (each for different reasons), in the “spelunca Ursariaâ€� as it was in the grotto on the Gargano, to which much evidence refers back. The church of the Arcangelo dates to 1527 and was built with its left-hand wall beside the entrance to the grotto, just as the Angevin nave stands before the Gargano grotto. (Francesco Paolo Maulucci - Massimo Mastroiorio)