The beat of the tambourines marks the time in Galatina, where art and faith meet the taranta and one of the most beautiful frescoed churches in Italy. From the three gates of the old city, Porta Luce, Porta Nuova and Porta dei Cappuccini, the narrow streets of the old town branch off, where arcades and eighteenth-century buildings adorned with imposing portals and balconies swarm up to subside before the majestic Basilica of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria , true treasure case of faith. Here Galatina reveals an artistic splendor that began in the 14th century with the Orsini del Balzo. On the edge of the historic center of Galatina, the Basilica of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria is a treasure case of art preserving magnificent frescoes and blends multiple architectural styles, from the Romanesque to the Gothic, from the Norman to the Byzantine, a marvelous jewel of architecture comparable to the Basilica di Saint Francis of Assisi for the value of his pictorial cycles.
The Basilica was built between 1469 and 1491 at the behest of Raimondello Orsini del Balzo who, returning from the Crusades, brought with him a finger taken from the body of the Saint; the relic is still preserved in the church treasury. Hundreds of eyes look from every angle at those who enter the Orsinian Basilica of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria, from the walls, from the tops of the pillars, from the vaults. A rare example of Gothic architecture in Salento, the basilica with its admirable frescoes tells the story of man, interpreted as the story of God's love. Wanting to create an unique church, the future Queen Maria D'Enghien, in the early days of the XV century summoned all the best painters of the Kingdom of Naples to fresco the available 2500 square meters.
The frescoes cover almost all the interiors and develop in the Apocalypse cycle in the first span, in the Genesis cycle and in the ecclesiological cycle in the second span, in the Christological cycle and in the angelological cycle in the third span, in the hagiographic cycle in the presbytery and in the Mariological cycle in the right aisle.
The splendid Romanesque façade is enriched by a finely decorated portal and a rose window that seems to be embroidered in stone. The Basilica also includes an elegant cloister with eighteenth-century frescoes, the museum with an arabesque ceiling, with a room dedicated to relics and votive offerings. The Basilica's iconographic treasure are the angels musicians, a veritable illustrated encyclopedia of medieval musical instruments, the oldest pictorial representation in Europe of cialamelle, harps, double flutes, lutes.
