The church of Santa Maria della Croce stands in Piazza del Popolo in front of the Matrice church and next to the eponymous monastery of the Olivetan Benedictines, now used as a town hall. A bell tower, featuring two orders of large single-lancet windows, serves as a connecting element between the church and the monastery. Although the building’s first phase of construction dates back to 1574, it shows both externally and internally a clear stylistic connotation of Baroque taste, thanks to the expansions and renovations it underwent in the 17th century. The monastery, built in 1618 with grants from the University of Modugno and the priest who had financed the construction of the church of the same name, Giovanni Maria Pascale, was intended to house the daughters of the town’s wealthiest families, the “Big Nuns.” In 1866 the religious order was suppressed and the monastery passed into the hands of the state property, becoming the seat of the City Hall since 1896.
