San Giovanni Theristis

A Greco-Italian (Byzantine) monk, St. John Theristus, lived in the Stilaro Valley during the 9th century.

His aghiasma ("holy font") became a popular center of local pilgrimage, and here a Byzantine monastery was founded in the 11th century.

In the early 19th century, after the Napoleonic conquest of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, it was acquired by the comune of Bivongi, who sold it to private owners.

In 2001, the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I visited the monastery and returned here the saint's relic from Stilo.

Norman elements include the four corner pilasters closed by four arches, which support the dome, two of them being ogival.