BASILICA OF SANTA CROCE, Introduction

Hi, my name’s Marcy, and I’m your personal guide. Along with MyWoWo, I’d like to welcome you to one of the Wonders of the World: the Basilica of Santa Croce, the emblem of Baroque architecture in Lecce and the most famous church in the city.

Between the 16th and 17th centuries, Lecce and the Salento were ruled by the Spanish, and an original Baroque style flourished in the city, characterized by intricate decorations on the outside of the buildings, influenced by the rather elaborate Spanish style of the time. Lecce Baroque, however, embellished its buildings with numerous relief elements and sculptures of formidable expressive power, with no equal anywhere else in the world, because they were crafted in a very soft limestone known as “pietra leccese”, perfect for sculpting.

Among the most famous architects and sculptors who adopted this distinctive Baroque style were Gabriele Riccardi, Francesco Antonio Zimbalo, Giuseppe Zimbalo and Cesare Penna, who all worked one after the other on the Basilica of Santa Croce between 1548 and 1689....