BASILICA SANTA CATERINA D'ALESSANDRIA
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Basilica of Romanesque-Gothic style representing one of the most beautiful artistic jewels of Salento.
In Romano-Gothic style, the Basilica of St. Catherine represents one of the most beautiful artistic jewels of Salento. It was built between 1384 and 1391 by Count Raimondello Orsini-Del Balzo following his triumphant return from the Holy Land, from where he brought back a relic of Saint Catherine. His wife Marie d'Enghien had the walls and vaults entirely covered with a sumptuous cycle of frescoes, for which she called on artists from various parts of Italy, from the Giotto and Sienese schools. Most of them have remained anonymous, only the name of Francesco d'Arezzo has come down to us.
The façade is embellished by a very detailed rose window and by a main portal whose archivolts show an astonishing animal and vegetal decoration. Inside, the large volumes and the large cross vaults are remarkable. The cycle of frescoes consists of about 150 scenes. In the main nave, the first bay shows scenes from the Apocalypse; the second, the sacraments and episodes from Genesis; the third, episodes from the life of Christ. In the middle of the right nave, scenes from the life of the Virgin. In the apse, scenes from the life of Saint Catherine and the Gothic tomb of Raimondello Orsini-Del Balzo. At the far end, in the flamboyant octagonal chapel, added in 1460, the tomb of his son Giovanni Antonio Orsini-Del Balzo. To the left of the basilica, the cloister is entirely decorated with 18th century frescoes.
