A small place of worship, a destination for traditional Lenten pilgrimages, located amidst the countryside of Pulsano. The chapel of SS. Crocifisso is situated to the northwest of the town, surrounded by olive groves and vineyards that characterize the area where the municipalities of Pulsano, Leporano, and Taranto converge. The current single-nave building dates back to the first half of the 19th century, when the benefactor from Pulsano, Francesco Bisanti, financed the renovation works of the two preexisting chapels of San Nicola and Santo Spirito, which were already documented in the early 1500s.
Above the single stone altar is a wooden statue depicting the Crucified Christ following the iconographic model of Cristo patiens (suffering), bleeding, striking for the thinness of the chest and abdomen, as well as the white complexion, at times cyanotic on the cheekbones, lips, and eyelids. The work, mentioned as early as 1510 by Bishop Giovanni Maria Puderico in his pastoral visit, gives the impression of collapsing under its own weight, supported only by the slender arms crossed by tendons frayed from the unnatural effort. Devotees address their chants and prayers to the sculpture during the Stations of the Cross liturgy, which is repeated annually in the early afternoon hours of Lenten Fridays.
Completing the sacred furnishings are a clothed mannequin depicting the Sorrowful Virgin and a late 19th-century Neapolitan-made St. Francis of Paola. The exterior features a simple façade painted with white lime, following the Apulian tradition, with a small sail bell tower and a small backyard garden where typical aromatic plants of the region are cultivated.
