| A fashionable town overlooking the Itria Valley, Martina Franca has been remarkable for centuries owing to the good proportions of the buildings surrounding the old town. The baroque-style in Martina is not less precious and magnificent than in Lecce and it is a symbol of splendour and creativeness.
Strolling around, wherever you go you see a town livened up by a sophisticated artistic and cultural atmosphere. An atmosphere generated from the creativity and the imagination of the stonecutters that by twists volutes, caryatids, puttoes and garlands enhanced the architectural beauty of churches, monasteries and nobiliary mansions in every corner, even the most secluded ones.
Every historic building excels for the sculptural theatricality that enhances its models, as the baroque-style triumphal arch of St Stephen leading to the charming old town shows immediately at first sight. It is enough to cross it to be overcome in the vertiginous scenery that looks different at every step. Here Piazza Romais dominated by the Ducal Palace whose façade in classical style matches well the other magnificent nobiliary mansions that surround the square, which, strangely enough, is triangular in shape.
And then, from wonder to wonder, one comes to Piazza Plebiscito, where the high and imposing Basilica of St Martin rises above the University Palace and the Civic Tower. From here, a web of narrow lanes will lead you to discover the charm and peculiarity of the baroque art in Martina Franca. All over the centuries, it has been able to integrate harmoniously the medieval relics with the eccentricity typical of the XVIII century and the classical taste of the XIX one.
Martina Franca, the capital of the Baroque Art in the Itria Valley, shows its greatness in art also through the works of Domenico Carella and Leonardo Olivieri, two apulian painters who transferred the splendour of the Neapolitan Painting to the hearth of Apulia. |