Location and style
It is located in the heart of the historic center, in Piazza Galluccio. It belonged to the monastic complex of the Poor Clares with the title of Madonna dell'Annunziata.
The simple and unadorned façade is surmounted by a splendid, richly carved window in Lecce stone; This work, almost certainly attributed to the taste and plastic realization of the stonemason Pietro Antonio Pugliese, who in those same years that went from 1616 to 1619, had also always worked for the carving of the Lecce stone in the church of Santa Caterina Novella , current parish church of San Biagio, in Galatina.
The interior, consisting of a single, not very large hall, with perimeter walls adorned with minor altars, is divided into three naves by four columns. The wooden choir, which was built for the commission of Duke Andrea De Vito and which overlooks the high altar, was built in 1773 and on it is placed the emblem of the Andrians.
The Clarisse
From the beginning, this monastic complex, still identified with the denomination 'of Santa Chiara' and erected together with the church dedicated to the Annunciation, built in the years from 1605 to 1620 with the 'alms' of the magnates citizens bidders and with the contribution of a thousand ducats by the University, has been entrusted to the religious order of the cloistered nuns observing the rule of St. Clare, which, in execution of the bull of May 9, 1618, of Pope Paul V, already November 8 of 1620 are present in the new residence of Galatina, with Sister Bonaventura Dionisia di Gallipoli and Sister Andriella Cavalleria di Brindisi, together with 14 novices. Maria Donata Scalfo is reserved the patronage of the high altar, for having donated her dowry for the erection of the conservatory for the bridesmaids of the city aristocracy. The pious lay association, instead, for the administration of the assets of the church and of the convent, is founded by Pietro Mongiò, brother of Brother Lorenzo Archbishop of Lanciano and Pozzuoli.
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