Chiesa di Sant'Agostino, Rococo church building in Taranto, Italy
The Chiesa di Sant'Agostino is a Baroque church in Taranto featuring an extensively decorated interior with curved lines and intricate architectural details throughout. The structural elements include columns, vaults, and embellished surfaces that showcase 18th-century craftsmanship.
The church's construction date is uncertain because few documents survive; it is presumed to date from around 1402, when the Augustinian friars settled in Taranto. The facade was rebuilt in the 18th century in a simple Rococo style. A plaque at the entrance records its reopening in 1956 after 29 years of closure, and it reopened again on 28 August 2010 under a new rector.
The first chapel on the right, now dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua, housed the Royal Confraternity of Saint Anthony of Padua from 1809 to 2009 and was formerly dedicated to Santa Maria delle Grazie. The Confraternity of San Nicola da Tolentino and the Sacred Belt still operates in the chapel of San Nicola da Tolentino, once dedicated to the Madonna della Cintura.
The church can be visited only on Sunday mornings, when it opens for religious service. It is reached along vicoletto Sant'Agostino, near the La Riccia slope.
In the church rest the remains of the poet Tommaso Niccolò d'Aquino. A plaque at the entrance records the reopening in 1956 after 29 years of closure, ordered by the local bishop Ferdinando Bernardi.
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