RICCARDI, Gabriele
(b. ~1520 ?, d. ~1560 Lecce)
Italian architect, active in Lecce. He designed the general structure of the Basilica di Santa Croce and the façade in its lower part. This church is a fine example of Baroque architecture in Apulia.
Cloister
The church of Santi Niccolò and Cataldo is an example of Italo-Norman architecture. It was founded by Tancred of Sicily in 1180. The cloister was built in the Renaissance period.
Interior looking toward the high altar
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 fa�ade 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.