The Baroque Art In Apulia

Lecce is essential starting point with its Baroque Santa Croce church and the former Celestine friary which is now the Local Authority headquarters. The Cathedral square ( with the cathedral, archbishopric and seminary), Sant’Oronzo square, and the town centre are all necessary places to visit. Lecce is a historic city in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Lecce as well as the one of the most important cities of Apulia. It is the main city of the Salentine Peninsula, a sub-peninsula at the heel of the Italian Peninsula and is over 2,000 years old. Because of the rich Baroque architectural monuments found in the city, Lecce is commonly nicknamed the "The Florence of the South", that was been created thanks to the a particular king of stone that is widespread mainly in Salento, which is specially soft so it is easy to work them to produce exceptional decorations which we can observe even today. This exceptional stone took out from stone field located near to the small town of Cursi and Melpignano, in the Southern part of Apulia, so many buildings in Salento were made out of Leccese stone decorate with Baroque trimmings, the façades of them are rich in rose-windows, gryphons, masks, and so on. But Lecce has also a long tradition affinity with Greeek culture going back to its foundation; the Messapi who founded the city are said to have been Cretans in Greek records. To this day, in the Grecìa Salentina a group of towns not far from Lecce, the griko language is still spoken. Because of the rich Baroque architectural monuments found in the city, Lecce is commonly nicknamed the "The Florence of the South". Nardò is a small town in the hearth of the Salento where you can visit many Baroque monuments as churches, historic palace, squares for example Church of San Domenico ( 16^th – 18^th centuries). Example of the Baroque art in Nardò are also Chiodo palace which take its name from Vittorio Chiodo, a captain of Carlo V army, Dell'Abate palace and Pignatelli palace or the Saint Antonio da Padova, Salandra Square, in particular the Sedile. The Pirelli palace, located near the Cathedra Saint'Agata, it was rencetly restored according to Baroque style. On his façade there is an imponent balcony which overhung the portal rich in tipical decorations in Baroque style. It has a highly decorated façade with Baroque caryatids, columns and vegetable figures. Gallipoli has many churches on the seafront and is also home to Sant’Agata cathedral with Salento’s famous paintings.  The evidences of Baroque style in Otranto, instead, are the SS. Martiri Cathedral and the S. Francesco da Paola sanctuary tood on a hillside nearby the small town of Otranto. The Sanctuary's altar made out of Leccese stone.  Martina Franca has beautiful Baroque churches, balconies, aristocratic buildings and the Ducal Palace. Nearly all the towns in Salento are decorated with the fine carvings of this art. A tour of the aristocratic towns could not possibility leave out Galatina, where powerful lords used to rule; signs of their presence are still evident to this day.