| On 16 June 1653 Monsignor Tommaso Caracciolo carried out the papal order to suppress the Franciscan convent of Saints Phillip and James and to destine the incomes of the latter to the foundation of a closed order convent dedicated to Holy Mary of Purity.
The convent was the second female complex in the city and to distinguish it from that of the Little Nuns (Fondazione Caracciolo De Sangro), in Via Principe Umberto, it was known as that of the Big Nuns. The former was for novices from humble backgrounds, while the latter only accepted girls from well-off families.
The rule by which the Big Nuns were inspired was the Augustinian one, and the severity of the enclosed order is implicitly communicated by a powerful structure, so tall as to look like a sort of tower. The upper part is crowned by a pierced balustrade, adorned by torches and statues of angels, almost intent on guarding the ascetic life of the nuns. Above there stands out the vantage point, whose sinuous shape is compared to the bell cell of Sant’Andrea delle Fratte by Borromini.
The little church of the convent, in rococo style, is the only one of its kind at Martina Franca. The interior is abundantly decorated with polychrome marble, scrolls and volutes in stucco with gilded finishing touches. A very fine feature is the decorated wooden choir with floral, exotic and mythological motifs, very similar to those of the inside doors of the Palazzo Ducale. Another important work is the canvas of the Apparition of the Virgin to SS. Augustine and Monica (1709) signed by De Matteis, considered one of the greatest Puglia painters.
The façade of the church presents a very linear window and an entrance portal marked to the side by two columns surmounted by two imposing sculptural figures, telamons, enwrapped in soft drapes. |