Palazzo dell'Antico Seminario (chiostro e Cappella di San Gregorio)

Giuseppe Cino's seminary building closes one side of Piazza del Duomo with a facade that balances sober lines and exuberant carving. Its complex includes a cloister with a sculpted well, the Cappella di San Gregorio and the diocesan museum of sacred art.

Why it matters

Giuseppe Cino's seminary building forms one side of Piazza del Duomo, completing the square's architectural composition. Its complex includes a cloister with a sculpted well, the chapel of San Gregorio Taumaturgo and the diocesan museum of sacred art, MuDAS.

What to notice

The facade combines restrained outlines with carved window frames and a portal influenced by the front of Lecce's Celestini convent. At the centre of the cloister, Giuseppe Cino's Lecce-stone well has an oval shaft decorated with vegetal spirals and water motifs, angel heads, fruit and putti, and a statue of Sant'Irene. The austere chapel contains a high altar and side altars dedicated to Sant'Irene and San Vincenzo. Paolo De Matteis signed and dated 1696 the altarpiece of the chapel's patron saint. Statues of Sant'Oronzo and San Liborio stand on the sacristy doors. The museum includes Paolo Finoglio's "Sacra famiglia del cucito".

Context and history

Bishop Michele Pignatelli launched the project in 1694, financing the work with contributions from local noble families, and entrusted the design to Giuseppe Cino, the architect and sculptor who did more than any contemporary to define the Leccese Baroque. The palace was inaugurated on 1 September 1709 under his successor, Fabrizio Pignatelli, who had the top-floor attic completed in 1729. The library keeps the name Innocenziana in honour of Antonio Pignatelli, a bishop of Lecce who ascended to the papacy as Innocenzo XII.