RICCARDI, Gabriele
(active mid-16th century in Lecce)

Interior looking toward the high altar

1549
Photo
Santa Croce, Lecce

Gabriele Riccardi was an important architect of his time in Lecce.

The church of Santa Croce (Holy Cross) was begun in 1549 from a sketch by Riccardi and completed two centuries after by Francesco Antonio Zimbalo and by Cesare Penna. Its Baroque façade presenting an exuberant wealth of decorations is the maximum expression of the Baroque Leccese.

The interior of the church is a Latin cross with three aisles on columns, with pompous decoration of the capitals and with a wooden ceiling, gilded chests in the greater aisle where there is a cloth that represents the trinity.