The church of San Gaetano was built in 1609 in Bitonto on the site of the old palace of the Universitas, in piazza Cavour. The work, commissioned by the Theatines and originally called San Niccolò ai Teatini, is in the Baroque style and was built to a design by Dionisio Volpone of Parabita.
What to see
The building was consecrated only in 1730, by Bishop Luca Antonio della Gatta. The severe rusticated facade is heralded by a broad flight of steps and is divided into two orders by a string course and crowned by a large pediment. The first order, the wider, has the portal, topped by a pediment broken by a small niche; in the second rises a large central window with a pediment and a plain balustrade at the level of the string course, which does not alter its function but enriches it. Six pilasters divide the first order and four of them, the central ones, continue in the second. Some niches without sculptural decoration show that the building was left unfinished; higher up can be seen the coat of arms of the Theatines.
The interior is a single nave ending in three apses, the central one larger, with four arches on each side in which as many chapels open. Notable is the first chapel on the right, formerly under the patronage of the Sylos-Sersale family, where a richly decorated Baroque altar stands out, made in 1696 in Lecce stone. On the counter-facade and on the high walls of the nave are frescoed many saints, among them Saint Patrick and Saint Gregory; along the walls follow, on the right, Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Jerome, Saint Martin, Saint Arsenius, Saint Cyprian, Saint Crescentius, Saint Marianus and Saint Luke, on the left Saint James the Apostle, Saint Polycarp, Saint Ignatius, Saint Urban, Saint Sylvester, Saint Basil, Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine, while between the triumphal arch and the ceiling, above the Theatine coat of arms, Saint Paul and Saint Peter are frescoed. On the wooden ceiling, painted by the Bitonto painter Carlo Rosa, are scenes from the life of Saint Nicholas of Bari, Saint Cajetan and Saint Andrew Avellino. The nave is lit by the central window of the counter-facade and by eight windows, four on each side.
Visiting
The church is in piazza Cavour, in Bitonto. The sources consulted give no opening hours or visiting arrangements: check them.
Our editors' tip
On the Baroque altar of the first chapel on the right there is a canvas of the birth of the Virgin of uncertain attribution: it is given either to Nicola Gliri or to Andrea Miglionico.
