The veneration of the appearance of the Virgin Mary on Mount Carmel was brought to Mesagne by the Carmelite friars in 1521; the year of their settlement in Mesagne. The friars had the permission of Raimondo di Cordona, Viceroy of Naples, to open a monastery next to the existing church of San Michele Arcangelo (Saint Michael the Archangel). The Carmelites found themselves in a royal abbey; a title which the place of worship had bestowed upon it by Carlo II d’Angio in 1299 due to a particulare devotion the king had towards the Archangel Michael, to whom the church was dedicated to.
The friars remained in their monastery until the suppressions of the 19th century which ocurred during the Napoleonic era (1809) and under the Regno d’Italia 1866. After the Second World War they returned permanently to the monastery. The construction of the monastery had various phases: the first ocurred prior to the year of the friars settlement in 1521 and others followed from 1639 – 1644; years in which work was also carried out on the chapels inside the church. Further work was completed in 1710. The most important intervention, however, envisaged the expansion of the monastery in 1743 but it was impeded by the earthquake of same year. The friars had to wait until 1755 to undertake the work. In 1784 the estate of the monastery increased markedly thanks to a donation by Vittoria Ronzini, a noblewoman from Mesagne and only heir to a very large fortune. Unfortunately, between 1955 and 1959, a large part of the old monastery and the bell tower were demolished and substituted with new architectural elements. A display relating to the monastery is currently being set up in the Museum.
Bibliography Luigi Greco, 2001 Storia di Mesagne in età barocca vol III L’architettura sacra nella storia dell’arte, Schena Editore
