Around 1453 a clergyman from Irsina, Roberto De Mabilia, struck up a relationship with the then young Mantegna who at the time was working on the church of Santa Giustina in Mantova. Subsequently, De Mabilia commissioned the artist to complete both a canvass depicting Saint Eufemia (Sant'Eufemia), (now in the Capodimonte Museum, Naples), and a sculpture of Saint Eufemia to be donated to his hometown. This remarkable gift, including other works of art, reached Irsina in around 1454 after a long journey by boat from Venice to Bari.
Today it is possible to admire in the Cathedral; a reliquary of the arm of Saint Eufemia, a sculpture depicting the Madonna and Child (Madonna col Bambino) and attributable to Niccolò Pizolo (a collaborator of Donatello), plus, the sculpture of Saint Eufemia by Mantegna (both in stone of Nanto), a large baptismal font made from stone of Verona, a lifelike wooden crucifix (Crocifisso) and the small column of Santa Croce. Three manuscripts and a painting depicting the Death of the Virgin (Dormitio Virginis) also formed part of the collection.

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