Description
The Church of San Paolo Eremita is the large Gothic church of the Franciscans in Brindisi's old town, built between the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Thoroughly restored in 2017 and 2018, it now houses the diocesan museum: outside it has simple Gothic lines, inside it's full of Baroque altars and medieval frescoes.
The interior is a single, wide nave. Along the walls follow the Baroque altars with their paintings: on the altar of Santa Maria, perhaps the work of Zimbalo, is a Madonna of Mount Carmel attributed to Alessandro Fracanzano, with Saint Catherine, Saint Paul the Hermit, Saint Didacus and the Perez Noguerol family.
At the end of the left side of the nave is the Visitation, painted in 1559 by the Brindisi nobleman and painter Jacopo de Vanis. In a niche on the north wall stands the 18th-century wooden statue of the Madonna of the Earthquake, believed to be miraculous.
On the walls of the choir and on the south wall, 14th-century frescoes are resurfacing: the Tree of the Cross, the Madonna and Child, saints, stories of Saint Mary Magdalene and even courtly scenes. Behind the altar of the Immaculate Conception is a Dormition of the Virgin, showing Mary on her deathbed.
The Chapel of Saint Francis was commissioned by the Brindisi historian Giovanni Maria Moricino, who in all likelihood had the wooden statue of the saint carved in Venice. In the sacristy is a large cabinet carved by local cabinetmakers in 1725.
The church stands on a strategic spot: here was the fortified acropolis of the Messapian and Roman city, later adapted by the Byzantines and Normans. Along the outer south wall, at the base, the courses of rusticated carparo are thought to be a remnant of those ancient fortifications.
When the Swabian Castle was built, the old fortress lost its purpose and the area passed to the Franciscans. The house of Admiral Margarito, which housed the Angevin mint, was also handed over to the friars for the convent. Church and convent were perhaps finished in 1322, thanks to the generosity of King Robert of Anjou.
In the early 19th century the facade was in danger of collapsing: it was rebuilt and set back a few meters. The convent was later suppressed, and part of it became the seat of the Subprefecture and then of the Prefecture.
The interior is a single, wide nave. Along the walls follow the Baroque altars with their paintings: on the altar of Santa Maria, perhaps the work of Zimbalo, is a Madonna of Mount Carmel attributed to Alessandro Fracanzano, with Saint Catherine, Saint Paul the Hermit, Saint Didacus and the Perez Noguerol family.
At the end of the left side of the nave is the Visitation, painted in 1559 by the Brindisi nobleman and painter Jacopo de Vanis. In a niche on the north wall stands the 18th-century wooden statue of the Madonna of the Earthquake, believed to be miraculous.
On the walls of the choir and on the south wall, 14th-century frescoes are resurfacing: the Tree of the Cross, the Madonna and Child, saints, stories of Saint Mary Magdalene and even courtly scenes. Behind the altar of the Immaculate Conception is a Dormition of the Virgin, showing Mary on her deathbed.
The Chapel of Saint Francis was commissioned by the Brindisi historian Giovanni Maria Moricino, who in all likelihood had the wooden statue of the saint carved in Venice. In the sacristy is a large cabinet carved by local cabinetmakers in 1725.
The church stands on a strategic spot: here was the fortified acropolis of the Messapian and Roman city, later adapted by the Byzantines and Normans. Along the outer south wall, at the base, the courses of rusticated carparo are thought to be a remnant of those ancient fortifications.
When the Swabian Castle was built, the old fortress lost its purpose and the area passed to the Franciscans. The house of Admiral Margarito, which housed the Angevin mint, was also handed over to the friars for the convent. Church and convent were perhaps finished in 1322, thanks to the generosity of King Robert of Anjou.
In the early 19th century the facade was in danger of collapsing: it was rebuilt and set back a few meters. The convent was later suppressed, and part of it became the seat of the Subprefecture and then of the Prefecture.