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Located in the heart of Salento, near Tricase, about 60 km from Lecce, Specchia is considered one of the most gorgeous small towns in Italy. Its name stems from “specchie”, which means heaps of dry stones essentially used for defence purposes. During the Middle Ages, the settlement was called Specla de Amygdalis, then the name was changed into Specchia Mendolia until last century, Mendolia referring to the almonds (mandorle) whose tree is very common here and also appears in the town’s coat of arms. The origin of Specchia seems to date back to the IX century, when some peasants and shepherds decided to defend themselves from the enemy (the Saracens) by moving up this hill, a strategic position for an easier defence due to the presence of many caves and karst soil. To improve their defence structures, they started to build a wall with towers and military fortifications, whose remains were still visible in 1931. Today they have been incorporated in the adjacent constructions, but two rectangular towers built in the fifteenth century can be still identified.
The first documents providing evidence of the existence of an urban settlement appeared after the year 1000, under the Norman rule, when Tancredi annexated it to the territory of Lecce and then gave it as a feud to the Monteroni’s in 1191. Ramondello Orsini Del Balzo acquired it in 1319. Since then Specchia had the same destiny of the Principality of Taranto until 1463, when it became a State property and then of Ferdinand of Aragon, who handed it down to the Guarini’s. Various feudatories succeeded one another until 1806, but the family that left most memories and esteem was that of Nicolò Ripa, notary of Frederick II.