The frescoes in the San Vito Vecchio Crypt date back to the end of the 13th century and   decorated the walls of the cave church of the same name in the Fornaci district of Gravina.
The original crypt had first been abandoned, then used as a tip to deposit waste products, and finally as a well to collect rainwater. The frescos had been well known for some time and, in 1956, they were bought by the Italian State, so that they could be detached from the damp walls of the crypt and restored. The task of detaching the frescos was carried out, in 1956, by technicians from the Superintendence in Bari, in collaboration with the Istituto Centrale del Restauro (Central Institute of Restoration) in Rome.
After restoration, and after being attached to a new support that reproduced the exact living space of the crypt, the frescos were exhibited in the Italian pavilion at the Universal Exhibition in Brussels, in 1958, gaining considerable success and admiration.
They were then exhibited at Trajan’s Market in Roma (1959), at the Exhibition of Byzantine Art in Athens (1964-1965), and, finally, at the Art Exhibition at Bari in Puglia.
They were later put on display in the deconsecrated Church of San Francesco della Scarpa in Lecce until 1967, and then returned, finally, to Gravina in 1967, to the Fondazione Pomarici Santomasi, and have been on display there since 1968.