Ground floor

On this floor you can visit the ticket office and bookshop which are now located where there once was the kitchen of the Seminary, and the old Refectory with its original furnishings.

At the entrance you can see two marble memorial stones of imperial age, rare evidences of the roman domination and also some statues made of Lecce stone and several bronze church bells that remind us of the thriving craftsmanship in the melting of church bells and cannons, established in Gallipoli since Medieval times up until the 18th century.

In the large atrium you can admire: a magnificent painting portraying Our Lady the Immaculate, in a golden frame, by Gallipoli painter G.D. Catalano (1560 – 1624 ca.); a masterpiece by F. De Mura, dated 1737, portraying the Assumption of the Virgin Mary; six papier-mâché reliefs on oval wooden boards by artist and architect from Lecce Mauro Manieri (1687 – 1744). The works of art in this section of the museum have been taken from the Church of Sant’Angelo dei Nobili whereas other more valuable paintings can be admired in the Cathedral of Sant’Agata that together with the Diocesan Museum constitutes a whole artistic complex.