The Spire of Saint Oronzo

Local people, spared from cholera and the recurrent epidemics of the 17th century, wanted to entrust their fellow citizen Giuseppe Greco, architect and sculptor, with the creation of the spire of the patron saint. Like many other architects and sculptors from Salento, he took as his model the statue still standing in Piazza del Gesù in Naples.

The ‘spire’, or ‘column’ as it has always been called by the local people, has an architectural structure in the shape of a pyramid. It is twenty metres high from its base and consists of five bases that narrow as the column rises. It was completed and inaugurated with a great and unforgettable ceremony in 1771.

The spire of St. Oronzo consists of a pedestal, or first basement, two-thirds of which is buried, because in 1870 the moat was filled in and the roadbed levelled, from ‘Lu stritte de San Brangische’ to the Spirito Santo climb. This filling of the ditch was made possible by the demolition of all the buildings that stood in the ancient square, then Piazza del Plebiscito.

The second base is embellished with putti, little angels holding open scrolls, placed on the four sides and on which one can read Latin inscriptions, which can be translated as follows: to the west: “Passerby, you owe the people the monument you see”; to the north: “Neither more powerful, nor more solicitous in protecting”; to the east: “for having put an end to famine and epidemic, for having restored health to St. Oronzo, protector, this perennial stone monument, Ostuni set”; to the south: “To St. Oronzo, patron, the citizens and the people out of devotion dedicated the year 1771”.

The third base is made up of a magnificent balustrade, on either side of which are statues of Saints Biagio, Irene, Agostino and Gregorio Armeno, co-patrons of Ostuni.

On the fourth, in addition to the various friezes and ornaments, there are a few seated angels with their legs dangling.

The statue of the saint dominates the last base. Dressed in the sacred vestments, he raises his right arm in the act of blessing, while in his left arm he holds the crosier and the Gospel.

The spire of Saint Oronzo is much photographed by the many tourists who come to Ostuni.