Chiesa di San Vito Martire

The Church of San Vito Martire, also known as the Chiesa del Purgatorio, is an eighteenth-century Baroque church on Via Cattedrale in Ostuni. Its decorated façade and interior artworks belong to a complex that also houses the city's civic museum in former religious buildings beside the church.

Why it matters

The municipality dates the church to 1750 and describes it as one of Ostuni's notable Baroque buildings. Its popular name, Chiesa del Purgatorio, reflects a devotional association with the souls in purgatory. The attached museum presents archaeological and historical material from the Messapian period through the Middle Ages.

What to notice

Religious motifs decorate the façade, whose carved stone creates a richly modelled surface. Inside, the municipal record notes sacred artworks, frescoes and sculpture. The church's eighteenth-century architecture contrasts with the archaeological collection housed in the adjoining former religious complex.

Context and history

The church was restored in recent years, according to the municipal heritage record. The civic museum occupies the church and adjacent former religious premises associated by institutional sources with the Carmelite house of Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi. The building thus brings together Ostuni's religious architecture and the material history of the surrounding territory.