Basilica of Santa Croce

The church of Sant'Irene dei Teatini was built from 1591 on a project by the Francesco Grimaldi Theatre (1543-1613) and was completed in 1639. The Baroque building is reminiscent of the model of the Basilica of Sant'Andrea della Valle in Rome, where the architect Grimaldi himself worked.

The cathedral of Lecce was first built in 1144, and a century later, in 1230, it was rebuilt in Romanesque style. In 1659, the Bishop of Lecce Luigi Pappacoda entrusted the local architect Giuseppe Zimbalo, known as Zingarello, with the task of rebuilding the cathedral church in the baroque style of Lecce. The construction was carried out between 1659 and 1670 and the architect chose not to modify the plan of the Romanesque cathedral.

The basilica of Maria Santissima Assunta Cathedral is the cathedral church of Nardò. The cathedral probably stands on the site where the ancient church of Sancta Maria of Neritorio was founded by oriental monks who escaped iconoclastic persecution in the 7th century. Consolidation work was carried out in the first half of the 15th century, probably after the earthquake of 1456, and until 1725, when the façade was rebuilt by the architect Ferdinando Sanfelice. The present appearance of the building is due to the restoration work carried out between 1892 and 1899, which restored the church to its more classical appearance.