The construction dates back to the early 19th century by the Liquorini priests. The religious men of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer founded by Saint Alfonso de’ Liguori, decided, in 1839, to plant five crosses in the ground in the center of the city as a symbolic place where they could meet to pray and meditate during Lent.
A first draft of the monument was created in a short time. However, the locals were not satisfied with the small chapel and soon opted to modify the building. The archpriest at the time, Marco Gatti, then decided to commission the layman Giuseppe Renato Greco to embellish the building of the Alfonsine priests.
After forty years of work, Giuseppe Renato Greco delivers to the Apulian town and the region this masterpiece of naive art, which evokes and anticipates Park Güell in Barcelona.
Gaudí does not mention in his diaries having visited it, but in his wanderings in Southern Italy, it is not difficult to assume that he came across the work of Renato Greco.
Leave a comment