Church of the Carmine

The Church of the Carmine and its former convent record the northern expansion of historic Presicce. The complex arose after Martino Alfarano donated property to the Carmelites of Lecce in the second half of the sixteenth century. Construction advanced between 1585 and 1590, and the church was consecrated in 1605. The friars remained here, with interruptions, until the definitive suppression of the convent in 1809.

The church has a single nave with two arches on each side, framing four lateral altars. Its visual focus is the richly carved high altar in local Lecce stone: twisted columns, reliefs and figures surround the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Saint John the Baptist, accompanied by Carmelite saints and prophets. The wooden choir and pulpit are further survivals of the religious community that occupied the complex. The bell tower seen today was rebuilt in 1951 after lightning destroyed its predecessor in 1945.

The former convent tells a separate civic story. After passing into public ownership, it was adapted in the late nineteenth century to contain municipal offices, a court, schoolrooms and even prison cells; later alterations continued in the 1930s. Its subsequent use for a library and community services shows how a monastic complex became part of the modern town without losing its architectural presence.