The study of the mural painting in the 12th century monastery of Santa Maria delle Cerrate (Puglia-Italy): characterization of materials and techniques used Giuseppe E. De Benedetto, a * Daniela Fico, a Eleonora Margapoti, a† Antonio Pennetta, a Antonio Cassiano b and Brizia Minerva b A multidisciplinary research was conducted by the University of Salento in collaboration with the Lecce Provincial Museum, in order to study different forms of art widespread in the Salento peninsula (Southern Italy) very valuable from an artistic point of view and important as driving force for the tourism of the area. In this research, the archaeometrical analysis was used to study the first cycle of paintings of the church of Santa Maria delle Cerrate, an italo-greek monastery located in the country about 15 km north-east of Lecce, probably built in the 12th century. Microscopic, chromatographic and spectrometric techniques were used: optical microscopy was used to study samples and the relevant stratigraphy, micro-Raman Spectros- copy to identify pigments and Gas Chromatography with Mass Spectrometric Detection to investigate the techniques masters used to decorate the monastery church. Further information on organic and inorganic materials present in the samples were obtained from Fourier transform infrared analysis in attenuated total reflectance. Materials and techniques were clearly ascertained, and, interestingly, pigments were applied both by fresco and egg-based tempera. Among the various pigments detected, the identification of both lapis lazuli and lead white opened new perspectives both from the historical and conservative points of view. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Supporting information may be found in the online version of this article. Keywords: lapis lazuli; lead white; palette; Byzantine wall paintings; fresco-secco techniques Introduction The Abbey of Santa Maria delle Cerrate is located a few kilome- ters from Lecce in Puglia (Italy). It is an italo-greek monastery founded in the 12th century by Tancred, count of Lecce. [1] There are few historical documents known: the monastery is mentioned in a document dated in 1133, in a colophon of 1154 and in the manuscript of 15th century. [2] Although a few remains of the monastery, today the church of Santa Maria delle Cerrate is a testimony of the artistic language of the time, born from the encounter between the eastern and western culture, the main feature of the Salento (South Puglia). The decoration of the church is very important; it was decorated with several cycles of paintings: the oldest decoration is in situ while the subsequent cycles were removed and exposed in the museum of the monas- tery since 1975. The surviving paintings decorate the walls of the nave, apse and arches. The first painting cycle (the centre of this research) is of high quality to consider the way in which it develops the iconography and its stylistic and morphology features: it includes figures of Bishops and Ascension in the apse and scenes of the Virgin and Saints in the nave. [3] The archaeometrical analysis is of great help in the study of mural paintings, especially when the bibliographic sources and studies are few, as in our case. In particular, the micro-Raman spectroscopy, compared to other similar methods of analysis, possesses numerous advantages such as specificity, sensitivity, short analysis time, immunity to interference, high lateral resolu- tion and non-destructive or micro-destructive analysis. Some research has been done on the Byzantine wall paintings, especially in Greece [4,5] : Raman spectroscopy in combination with other analytical techniques have been used to identify colors and paint- ing techniques, [6] products of degradation, [7] and a recent research of 2011 has concerned the study of the plaster and a possible its dating. [8] In Italy, the Byzantine frescoes are found mostly in the rocky churches and crypts of the southern regions (Puglia and Basilicata), and archaeometric studies conducted are few, but the context has been better investigated from the historical and artistic point of view. [9–11] * Correspondence to: Giuseppe E. De Benedetto, Laboratorio di Spettrometria di Massa Analitica ed Isotopica, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Università del Salento, Edificio M, campus Ecotekne, s.p. Lecce-Monteroni, I-73100 Lecce, Italy E-mail: giuseppe.debenedetto@unisalento.it † DISTEBA, Università del Salento, EdificioM, campus Ecotekne, s.p. Lecce- Monteroni, I-73100, Lecce, Italy a Laboratorio di Spettrometria di Massa Analitica ed Isotopica, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Università del Salento, Edificio M, campus Ecotekne, s.p. Lecce-Monteroni, I-73100, Lecce, Italy b Museo Provinciale ‘Sigismondo Castromediano’, viale Gallipoli, I-73100, Lecce, Italy J. Raman Spectrosc. 2013, 44, 899–904 Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Research article Received: 20 December 2012 Revised: 8 March 2013 Accepted: 8 March 2013 Published online in Wiley Online Library: 9 April 2013 (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI 10.1002/jrs.4298 899