What is it?
Descrizione
"It is a land of animal and plant poisons. Here it comes out in the heat, the spider of madness and absence. It creeps into the blood of delicate bodies that know only the dry labor of the earth, destroyer of the least part of the day.''
As Quasimodo's words resound, a monumental complex stands out on the screen. It is an imposing ruin where the rich facade, mindful of ancient times, appears as a baroque whimsy in the bare sunny countryside.
Mysterious, ancient, decadent: this is how it is immortalized, between the 1950s and 1960s in the documentary dedicated to tarantism: "Tarantula'' by Gianfranco Mingozzi, the former Convent of the Augustinians and the adjoining Church of the Carmine in Melpignano.
Construction of the convent began in 1573 following the entrustment of the 16th-century Church of the Carmine to the Order of Augustinians. The rise of these monasteries was part of a larger project by the Church of Rome, which wanted to take root in areas heavily influenced by the Greek rite.
From 1638 to 1662 the complex was renovated at the behest of the Augustinian Father Raffaele Monosi, a patron and celebrated representative of the noble Melpignano family of the same name, who entrusted the work to the architect Giuseppe Zimbalo, author of the Cathedral of Lecce, and to the "head master'' Francesco Manuli of Corigliano d'Otranto.
Il 7 Agosto 1809 il convento fu soppresso e l’intero complesso, dopo essere stato anche lazzaretto e campo santo, fu lentamente abbandonato, divenendo muto testimone dei fasti passati. Sulla facciata della chiesa domina il raffinato portale d'ingresso squisitamente decorato da due coppie di colonne che sorreggono la trabeazione sovrastata da una statua lapidea della Madonna del Carmelo.
Above an elaborate frieze, the upper order is embellished with an elegant central window with arched tympanum and side volutes with busts of cherubs. The interior has a single nave with six chapels arranged along the side walls and still preserves the 16th-century choir behind the high altar. In the convent, inside the cloister, the central well is surrounded by the remains of a colonnade, while on the second floor the remains of the friars' cells can be seen and on the ground floor the kitchen and refectory.
One of the most important expressions of Salento Baroque, a place permeated with art, history and mysticism, where religion and superstition almost touch each other, this complex is now a symbol of Salento, immortalized, amid lights and dances, as the backdrop for the event of the "Night of the Taranta.''
𝐀𝐕𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐋𝐈𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐖
As Quasimodo's words resound, a monumental complex stands out on the screen. It is an imposing ruin where the rich facade, mindful of ancient times, appears as a baroque whimsy in the bare sunny countryside.
Mysterious, ancient, decadent: this is how it is immortalized, between the 1950s and 1960s in the documentary dedicated to tarantism: "Tarantula'' by Gianfranco Mingozzi, the former Convent of the Augustinians and the adjoining Church of the Carmine in Melpignano.
Construction of the convent began in 1573 following the entrustment of the 16th-century Church of the Carmine to the Order of Augustinians. The rise of these monasteries was part of a larger project by the Church of Rome, which wanted to take root in areas heavily influenced by the Greek rite.
From 1638 to 1662 the complex was renovated at the behest of the Augustinian Father Raffaele Monosi, a patron and celebrated representative of the noble Melpignano family of the same name, who entrusted the work to the architect Giuseppe Zimbalo, author of the Cathedral of Lecce, and to the "head master'' Francesco Manuli of Corigliano d'Otranto.
Il 7 Agosto 1809 il convento fu soppresso e l’intero complesso, dopo essere stato anche lazzaretto e campo santo, fu lentamente abbandonato, divenendo muto testimone dei fasti passati. Sulla facciata della chiesa domina il raffinato portale d'ingresso squisitamente decorato da due coppie di colonne che sorreggono la trabeazione sovrastata da una statua lapidea della Madonna del Carmelo.
Above an elaborate frieze, the upper order is embellished with an elegant central window with arched tympanum and side volutes with busts of cherubs. The interior has a single nave with six chapels arranged along the side walls and still preserves the 16th-century choir behind the high altar. In the convent, inside the cloister, the central well is surrounded by the remains of a colonnade, while on the second floor the remains of the friars' cells can be seen and on the ground floor the kitchen and refectory.
One of the most important expressions of Salento Baroque, a place permeated with art, history and mysticism, where religion and superstition almost touch each other, this complex is now a symbol of Salento, immortalized, amid lights and dances, as the backdrop for the event of the "Night of the Taranta.''
𝐀𝐕𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐋𝐈𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐖
