Location and Dating
The church stands outside the walls, in piazzale Bianchini, at the corner of via Vito Vallone. The small square, which today runs along the side of the church on the south side, derives its name from the presence of the Olivetans themselves, dressed in white, thus being referred to, by the name of Bianchini, by the Galatesi. From this square it leaves via Bianchini which still leads to Soleto today.
It belonged to the convent complex of the monastic order of the Olivetans, whose beginnings date back to 1507.
As has been said elsewhere, treating the presence of the Olivetans in Galatina, this church by the same Fathers was called Santa Caterina Novella to distinguish it from the already existing one of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria. Today it is the parish seat under the title of San Biagio. It is also the seat of the lay confraternities of San Biagio and of the Holy Family.
Plant and Prospectus
It is of classic 16th century layout, with three naves, with a no longer existing property. The layout of the church with three naves is the classic of the sixteenth century, although the whole construction of the church as we see it today is later and dates back to the beginning of the seventeenth century.
The pròtiro in question seems to consist of a real pòrtico that extended for the whole width, and also going beyond, the front of the central nave of the church, as would leave to suppose the residual traces of the triple arch that still are noticed on the facade, all in Lecce stone. It should be noted that the church portal, richly carved, is not aligned with the vertical of the central arch. Whereas, instead, placed above the portal and perfectly aligned with it, is the splendid window attached almost to the crowning band of the façade. This is then built in Lecce stone for the lower part and tuff blocks for the upper part. Both the portal and the window are from 1619 and are richly decorated and carved. Everything else is perfectly linear and is just lightened by the side windows and the balustrade of the double order of the square bell tower that is finished, a little later, in 1683.
Indoor
Inside, the vault, lunetteed, furrowed by elegant cords, is powerful and majestic. The triumphal arch of the apse, which divides the long nave from the presbytery and on which it leaves its signature in 1616, is a perennial reminder of its presence in Galatina, the master builder Pietro Antonio Pugliese di Galàtone. The vault unloads its weight on large, richly carved shelves, which also have the decorative function of re-shaping the wall space. Also the spatial rhythm of the presbytery's roof is of great breath and is enriched by the presence, on the back wall, of a large window similar to that of the façade.
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