Fransiscanism in Pulsano
The convent of the Reformed Fathers of San Nicolò di Puglia was built between 1709 and 1712 next to the church of S. Maria dei Martiri by the will of Nicolò Sergio Muscettola, prince of Leporano and Pulsano. The building, spread over two floors, appears massive and imposing, with rooms arranged around a cloister with round arches. The Franciscan monastic community mainly engaged in prayer, assisting the sick, cultivating products from extensive land ownership in the surrounding area, and studying as there was a library, the only active one in the Reformed Province during the 18th century.
After the suppression laws following the Unification of Italy (1861), the convent became municipal property and was used for various purposes: barracks for the Royal Carabinieri with adjoining prison cells, municipal offices and library, school classrooms. Since 1912, the building has been the seat of the monastic community of the Stimatine Sisters, who ran a nursery and a school for embroidery and sewing to provide professional training for the female population of Pulsano. Now devoid of any original furnishings, the convent currently houses the municipal library and the city's archaeological museum. Noteworthy is the large fresco depicting the Last Supper inside the former refectory, created by the artist Giuseppe Bianchi, a member of a famous family of painters originally from Manduria.
