The Churches In Apulia

The most representative holy building in Apulia is the Baroque Santa Croce Basilica at Lecce. The building began in 1353, but work was halted due to disapproval until 1549, completed only in 1695. The church has a richly decorated façade with animals, grotesque figures and vegetables, and has a large rose window. The Duomo (cathedral) is also one of the most significant in Italy. It was originally built in 1144, and rebuilt in 1230. It was totally restored in the years 1659-70 by Giuseppe Zimbalo, who also built the 70 m-high bell tower. The latter has five floors and an octagonal loggia. The church of the Theatines (St. Irene, built from 1591 by Francesco Grimaldi). It has a large façade showing different styles in the upper and lower parts. The portal is surmounted by a statue of St. Irene by Mauro Manieri (1717). The interior is on the Latin cross plan and is rather sober. It has an altar of St. Michael Archangel with a copy of the eponymous painting by Guido Reni. The high altar has a Transport of the Holy Ark by Oronzo Tiso. In the right transept is one of the largest altars in Lecce, dedicated to S. Cajetan (1651). Nearby is the rococo altar of St. Andrew Avellino. Also from the mid-17th century is the altar of St. Oronzo by Francesco Antonio Zimbalo, followed by the altar of St. Irene with a canvas by Giuseppe Verrio (1639), nine busts of saints housing relics and a large statue of the Saint. The altar of St. Stephen has Lapidation of St. Stephen by Verrio.
San Francesco della Scarpa, known as the "church without façade" as the latter has been demolished in the 19th century restorations. The most ancient section dates likely to the 13th-14th centuries; the interior is on the Greek Cross plan. The Saint Chiara church dates back to the 1400 Century and it was rebuilt in 1687.
There is Squinzano with the delicate Santa Maria di Cerrate Abbey, an old monastery with a very beautiful cloister and a Baroque well, it also has a museum of a rural life. At Galatina there is the Basilica of Santa Caterina d’Alessandria, an unusual example of Gothic architecture in Apulia. From Galatina to Casarano where there is the church of St. Maria della Croce of Casaranello, which has an example of an early Christian mosaic in the dome and presbytery vault. At Taranto there is the San Cataldo cathedral with a silver statue of the patron saint and an extraordinarily large  chapel constructed in the best Neapolitan Baroque style. At Brindisi there is the Santa Maria del Casale Church from the Angevin period, characterised by the two tone façade outside, and inside by the mural of the Last Judgement. This journey of faith finished at the cathedral of Otranto, with the wonderful Tree of Life mosaic and shrines of the martyr’s remains, dating back to 1480, demonstrating a somewhat, air of gloom. The Cathedral, consecrated in 1088, a work of Count Roger I adorned later (about 1163), by Bishop Jonathas, with a mosaic floor; it has a rose window and side portal of 1481. The interior, a basilica with nave and two aisles, contains columns said to come from a temple of Minerva and a fine mosaic pavement of 1166, with interesting representations of the months, Old Testament subjects and others. It has a crypt supported by forty-two marble columns. The same Count Roger also founded a Basilian monastery here, which, under Abbot Nicetas, became a place of study; its library was nearly all bought by Bessarion and the Byzantine San Pietro Church located in the Otranto historical centre.