The town of Castro has a Medieval appearance but its origins are much earlier (founded by the Cretans or Greeks), it overlooks the Adriatic from a lovely panoramic position framed by the greenery of olive trees. From this higher town, appropriately called Castro Superiore, you descend to Castro Marina, an age-old fishing village located on a splendid inlet of the Salento’s Adriatic coast. Its charming port is home to moored boats and nearby small grottos act as warehouses for the fisherman, the crystal clear sea and grottos that open on the coast to the north of the town make Castro a postcard perfect spot, visited by many tourists every year; a town where the charm of antiquity blends perfectly with the modern hospitality of a well-equipped seaside resort.
Activities:
Those who love the sea as a synonym of natural phenomena, in addition to holidays and relaxation, will find a perfect spot in Castro. A trip to the Grotta Zinzulusa has a charm all of its own, due to its spectacular calcareous formations, stalactites and stalagmites. It can be reached by land and sea. Other grottos, including Palombara and Rotundella are only accessible by sea. There is an underwater trail (the “Sentiero blu” – Blue trail) for scuba divers right in this area. But even those with less expertise can discover the hidden charms of the area, simply by renting a kayak or pedalo and looking at the coastline instead of the sea.
Coast Type:
Small coves, grottos and cliffs greet visitors along the upper rocky coast where Castro stands, positioned on one of the most beautiful inlets of the Salento’s Adriatic coast, the wildest side of “Italy’s heel”. Karst phenomena have excavated beautiful grottos. Grotta Zinzulusa, discovered in 1793, gets its name from “zinzuli”, meaning rags, a dialect word the fishermen used to refer to the stalactites hanging from the vault of the entrance. Grotta Romanelli is one of the most important prehistoric sites in Italy with red graffiti which are among the oldest depictions of humans in the field of figurative arts.
Sources: By the editorial staff Updated on: 14/05/2012
Project created in collaboration with InnovaPuglia.
Regione Puglia
Regione Puglia