| The Cathedral of St. Agatha was built from 1629, and is situated near the centre of the city where it is surrounded by numerous palaces. It is the most important Baroque architecture monument in Gallipoli. Several centuries earlier, on the same site, there was another Church, dedicated to Saint John Chrysostom, and then, from 1126, to St. Agata, but it was destroyed. The cathedral façade is made of stone with various statues depicting St.Agata, San Fausto and Saint Sebastian, Santa Marina and Santa Teresa of Avila. The Interior of the Cathedral has a Latin cross form with three naves intermixed with two rows of Doric columns. The altar is made of polychrome marble. In the two aisles stand twelve minor altars. The interior decorations are the work of Giovanni Andrea Coppola (1597-1659), a native of Gallipoli who painted the altars dedicated to "SS. Souls in purgatory", "the assumption", "The martyrdom of St. Agata ", "San Giorgio", "The adoration of the Magi", and "The miracle of San Francesco di Paola". The paintings of the "Virgin with the child" and the "SS. Giovanni Battista and Andrea Apostle" are framed in eleven panels. The inner decorations were completed in 1700 by Nicola Malinconico, who also painted "The expulsion of the Merchants from the Temple", the "entry into Jerusalem", "Tomb of St. Agata", "The glorification of the Holy", the "Process and the sentencing of Santa by Quinziano" and the "Miracle of paralytic". |