Franciscan Art Gallery of the Minor Friars of Lecce is an architectural complex that includes a monumental entrance portal, a chapel dedicated to Saints Philip and James, a nymphaeum, an elegant room located on the ground floor.
The Gallery, inaugurated and opened to the public on November 7, 1968, houses a collection of paintings from the convents of the Minorite province of Salento, along with other artworks worthy of preservation. The brilliant creator and builder of this unique artistic collection was the Franciscan from Salice Salentino, Father Egidio De Tommaso.
The gallery occupies the staircase and the upper floor of the ancient building. The works exhibited in Fulgenzio’s gallery share a common trait: most belong to the same historical period (17th-18th centuries), that is, the Baroque period and the Catholic Counter-Reformation, and are by unknown artists; they come from Franciscan convents scattered across the territories of the provinces of Lecce, Taranto, and Brindisi. Among the best-known painters are: Serafino Elmo, Oronzo Tiso, and Fra Francesco da Martina Franca.
