| We have small pieces of information about Chiesa del Carmine. Between 1631-1639, the friars signed a contract with the brothers bricklayers Francesco e Pietro Paolo Accini for the building of Santa Maria del Carmine Chapel.
The church, best- known as the Church of Carmine, was indeed given the name of St. Giovanni Battista and St. Anna. It is close to S. Giacomo Civil Hospital, a former monastery of the Carmelitani Scalzi Confraternity. The church is thought to be built between the end of 1500 and the early 1600, according to the headstone placed in one of the two side chapels and the architectural style of the altars.
The rectangular building with its seven altars, is made of white tufa (a calcareous limestone) from Ostuni.
Behind the main altar there is a late- Renaissance gold-plated wooden carved painting. Two plinths of the stoups, the carved- stone Baptistery dated back to the XVth century and four paintings by unknown artists have an artistic relevance. On the left-side altars there are three important paintings; St. Sebastiano, Annunciazione, St. Giovanni Battista. The last one, as S. Sebastiano painting, because of the “chiaroscuro technique”( the light that underlines the shape that comes out of the dark shadows) are the expression of the school of Neapolitan Caravaggisti in Apulia region. Lately, according to the date indicated on the church façade, the opening of a central window made the exterior of the church graceful. |