Location:
GALATINA (LE)
Client:
PUBBLIC
Object of the intervention:
CONSOLIDATION OF FRESCOES AND MUSEALIZATION
Sector:
RESTORATION
Status:
FINISHED
BASILICA SANTA CATHERINA D’ALESSANDRIA
GALATINA (LE)
The restoration works of the basilica of Santa Caterina d’Alessandria included the restoration of the beauty of the facade and that of the frescoes that decorate the entire basilica.
The basilica was built between 1369 and 1391 by the will of Raimondello Orsini del Balzo.
Orsini del Balzo, in one of his many trips back from the Crusades, went as far as the summit of Mount Sinai; to pay homage to the body of Saint Catherine; he kissed her hand, tearing off her finger with his teeth. Back in Italy, he took with him the relic which is still preserved in the church treasury set in a silver reliquary.
The building was built on a pre-existing Byzantine church of the Greek rite dating back to the IX-X century, in fact the traces are clearly visible in the outer wall of the right aisle in which it was incorporated.
