Live in the community and inhabit the city: this is Saint Dominic's precept for his friars. The diffusion of the Dominicans in Southern Italy dates back to
the papal boll Clara Ordinis by Celestine V. The Dominicans' settlement was already established at the end of the 13th century. The reasons that prompted the presence of the Dominicans in the Salento area can be
identified in terms of the need to stem the spread of a « Greek-like » culture which set this area apart from the rest of the South: the Byzantine influence had already become firmly rooted in this area. For many centuries the Order spread
throughout Europe. The Council of Trent contributed to strengthening the Dominicans' activity
in the area. In the Salento area, the number of convents founded between 1300 and 1626 totals
twenty-one.
Afterwards, the Order's growing power made a resizing necessary: over the course of the 17th century, papal authority eliminated a number of convents, and established
organizational rules that resulted in areduction of bishops' authority. Wind of the French
Revolution reached Southern Italy as well, and in 1809 the Napoleonic period brought about the elimination and seizure of nearly all the convents of the Order. In 1861, the new unified State, in a clash with the Church, redoubled its
efforts in this direction.
The Dominican Preachers' influence is also present in the repetition of some architectural characteristics. Strategically located
within town centers, the convents often present recurring elements: cloisters and porticoes with a cross vault, ashlar portals with the
crest of a dog and a torch, large openings with Gothic arches and galleries, cross vaults, ornamental elements with
flowers and fruit. The Dominican convent architecture is crossed with the Salentino Baroque: the friars' vocation for preaching blended harmoniously with
the local urban culture.
Cultural paths
Dominican Salento, the “polycentric city” of convents
Convent of Santa Maria del Soccorso in Matino, frescoes dedicated to Dominican saints