| The church dedicated to the Holy Virgin Mary is without doubt one of the most interesting monuments in the town of Tricase. Made in a high baroque style, the building as it stands today was first started between 1763 and 1784. Previously the church, which has medieval origins, had been damaged and rebuilt several times. Tampered with by the Turks in 1480, by soldiers of the Count of Lecce in 1495 and by the Venetians in 1528, the older building fell into ruins and, in its place, a new church was built dedicated to Our Lady of Foggiaro in 1581. At the beginning of the 18th century enlargement was deemed necessary, so in order to lay their hands on the finances needed for building, a new tax was imposed called the “vigesima” (a twentieth of the income) on wheat, barley and olives. The large building was never completely finished and still today is incomplete in the tympanum in the façade the bell tower. The façade is embellished with an entrance built in leccese stone flanked by pairs of columns and surmounted by an aedicule with a statue of the Virgin Mary in it. The inside, in the shape of a Latin cross, is very large. The vaults are finely decorated with stucco work executed in 1784 by an artist from Copertino, Luigi Rossi. The beautiful balustrade carved out of leccese stone is from the same period, and the wooden pulpit, inlaid in walnut is from the end of the century. The thirteen altars still have the paintings, furnishings and ornaments of the previous churches, such as the baptism font from the Renaissance period and the panel in the apse which portrays the Virgin of Foggiaro. There are also some noteworthy late 16th century and 17th century paintings in the church. |