CHURCH OF SAN GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA, Presentation - Ai Voice

The Church of St. John the Evangelist is one of the oldest architectural gems in Lecce, although the building you see today is no longer the original medieval structure. In 1607, the church was completely transformed, taking on the sober and harmonious appearance that you can admire today.

You should know, however, that its origins go back much further. In 1133, the Norman Count Accardo II decided to found here a monastery for Benedictine nuns. For centuries, this was the place chosen by Lecce’s most prominent families to send their daughters who were not meant to marry. The young women lived in comfortable quarters, each with a small private garden and even a personal oratory.
Despite the suppression of religious orders in 1866, which stripped the monastery of many of its possessions, the community of nuns has managed to survive to this day.

The exterior of the church is rather simple, as is the interior, which consists of a single nave in the shape of a Latin cross. Yet as soon as you step inside and look up, you can admire the magnificent 17th-century coffered wooden ceiling, with panels beautifully decorated with paintings.
Along the walls, you’ll find a sequence of Baroque altars adorned with twisted columns and gold leaf — a true triumph of form and color. The main altar, at the center of the presbytery, holds a polychrome sculptural group depicting St. John the Evangelist in Glory, which seems to rise heavenward. Among the most precious works are three wooden statues — St. John the Evangelist, St. Benedict, and St. Scholastica — attributed to Nicola Fumo, one of the great Neapolitan sculptors of the 17th century.
At the end of the nave is the nuns’ choir loft, an elevated gallery from which the sisters sang and prayed during the liturgy. It was screened off by elegant wooden grilles, allowing the cloistered nuns to attend services without being seen by the congregation.

Here’s an interesting fact: The Benedictine nuns of Lecce are famous for their almond-paste sweets. At Easter and Christmas, they prepare treats shaped like lambs and fish following centuries-old recipes. If you’re lucky, you might even get to taste them by purchasing them directly from the monastery’s gate — a delightfully sweet way to take home a piece of history.