Museo Vito Mele

The Museo Vito Mele is a sculpture museum in rooms beside the Basilica of Santa Maria di Leuca. Opened in 2004, it presents more than 120 works by Italian artists, with sculptures spanning from the late nineteenth century to the present.

Why it matters

The museum brings a collection of modern sculpture into the historic sanctuary complex at the southern tip of Salento. It grew from the collection of Vito Mele, an artist and collector from Presicce who later lived in Garbagnate Milanese. Mele offered the collection to the parish, whose rector provided rooms beside the basilica and gave the museum his name.

What to notice

The collection includes works by Italian and international artists, among them Medardo Rosso, Eros Pellini, Floriano Bodini and Giò Pomodoro. Its range joins late-nineteenth-century sculpture with modern and contemporary work, including artists from Salento. The works are displayed in rooms within eighteenth-century buildings adjoining the sanctuary.

Context and history

The museum opened on 31 July 2004 at the initiative of the sanctuary's rector, Monsignor Giuseppe Stendardo. The rooms had been restored for the Jubilee of 2000, and Mele's donation gave them a cultural role alongside the basilica. The museum remains part of the sanctuary complex, bringing sculpture into a setting shaped by the religious and architectural history of Santa Maria di Leuca.