Church and Confraternity of the Crucifix

This church, which is the seat of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Crucifix, was established by Monsignor De Rueda, the bishop of Gallipoli, in 1642.

The Confraternity’s seat was near the monastery church of St. Francis, but it was destroyed by the fury of the sea. Therefore, the Confraternity bought a building area from the Dominican Fathers and commissioned a new church which was expressly designed by Carlo Multò, a Lieutenant of artillery in service of the Royal Castle of Gallipoli. Mason Ortensio Preite of Copertino built the structure.

Inside the church, an old painting of the Crucifix’s face hanging over the high altar and a wooden Dead Christ are particularly worshipped. This statue is carried in processions with other statues remembering the Passion of Christ on Good Friday.

The interior of the church is decorated with four Baroque mixtilinear paintings representing the Invention and the Exaltation of the Cross made by Aniello Letizia in the first half of the eighteenth century. They are set at the sides of the nave with the nineteenth century stuccoes portraying the Saint Apostoles.

The walnut huge bench and the stalls of the Confraternities were made by coopers in 1867.

The beautiful, evocative eighteenth century wooden statue of St. Michael the Archangel, of a typical Neapolitan taste, is attributed to G. Sarno.

On the façade, the large nineteenth century majolica panel portraying Our Lady of Good Counsel, who is particularly worshipped by the brethrens, stands out.

Church of St. Dominic, Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary

The church was rebuilt at the beginning of the 18th century by the Margoleos, masons from Martano who operated in several towns in Salento. The façade is made in carparo and in the interior, the main body of the church has an octagonal plan and is surrounded by ten side altars. Its lunetted barrel vault is characterized along the supporting architectural elements by a precious and exquisite sculptural decoration.

Excellent are the numerous paintings made in the 17th century by Giovan Domenico Catalano a painter of Gallipoli. Worth mentioning are Circumcision of Jesus (in the sacristy), The Virgin with the Infant Jesus and the Saints John the Evangelist and Peter Martyr, The Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, The Virgin with the Infant Jesus and Saints Leonard Irene and Marina.

The painting of The preparation of the Crucifixion derives from a picture made by Luca Giordano.

The wooden altar dedicated to St. Dominic was made by Giorgio Aver from Gallipoli in the 18th century. Particularly valuable are the polychrome statues of St. Dominic and the particularly venerated St. Vincenzo Ferreri.

Now the church is the seat of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary. In 1565 documentary evidence of its remote constitution has been provided and in 1686 it has been founded again with the Oratory.

In the sacristy, built in an arcade of the sixteenth century cloister of the Dominicans, a large fresco representing the battle of Lepanto of 1571 and a gigantic genealogical tree of the Spanish imperial family are displayed.

Original text – Elio Pindinelli
English translation by Rocco Merenda