Lecce (source: Visual Puglia )
The origins of this city, capital of its province, are very ancient and often mixed with legend: Sybar the MessApico town on which Lecce was built seems to be older than the Trojan war. After the advent of the Japigi and with the 3rd century BC Roman conquest, Lecce obtained the status of municipium, took the name of Lupiae and witnessed a period of splendour under the guidance of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. After a short Greek domination, it was sacked by the Ostrogoths and was annexed in 549 to the Eastern Roman Empire where it remained for 5 centuries. It was under the Norman domination that Lecce became an important trading centre and assumed the role of capital of the Salento. In 1493 Lecce became part of the Kingdom of Naples and became the liveliest cultural centre of the Mediterranean giving life to its own architectural style, which later became known as Lecce Baroque. In later centuries, to protect against possible Turkish invasions, under the reign of Charles V, walls and a castle were built around the city. Next churches and aristocratic dwelling were constructed turning the city into an open air construction site. In 1656 Lecce was hit with a plague epidemic which ended thanks to the miraculous intercession of St. Horace, who later became the patron saint of the city. The expansion of the city beyond its walls took place in the first years of the 1900’s.
(continue...)
Sun, sea, wind. Nature strikes in the first place, when one gets to this land stretch in balance between two seas. Salento has its core in the province of Lecce, - a Baroque Florence in Southern Italy – and reaches the provinces of Brindisi over the Adriatic Sea, and Taranto on the Ionian Sea side. The cities and inland towns expressions of the unique Lecce Baroque with Messapi and Salento Grecìa can still be seen. Its language, songs and feasts still show the culture of Graecia Magna. Surf, kite-surf and windsurf lovers never miss the beaches facing the Alimini lakes, while scuba diving fans just have to choose among the several equipped centers and charming sea beds of the Ionian coast as well as of the area between Otranto and Santa Maria di Leuca.
Church and hermitage of Santa Maria of the Angels - Scorrano
Lighthouse and aqueduct - Santa Maria di Leuca
Salento coast is characterized by a high variety in landscapes: the clear, fine sand beaches of Santa Cesarea seafront; famous caves such as Castro cave with its Grotta Romanelli, one of the most important Italian prehistoric settlements, and Grotta Zinzulusa, 'the pearl of caves', owing its name to the dialect word 'zinzuli', ('rags'), used by fishermen to indicate its beautiful stalactites and stalagmites
Go to list
Baroque style affirmed in Apulia during Counter-Reformation upon the will of Roman Church. A way of exalting Catholic symbols, Lecce and Nardò Baroque has its own characteristics that make it different from the same artistic style in other regions. Its peculiarities derive from the use of amber-colored Lecce stone as well as decorations used to mask the structures on which they are mounted
In Southern Apulia, at the heart of Salento, nine municipalities united to save what is still left of the ancient Grika culture. In this area of Salento there can still be found traces of Graecia Magna Grika language spoken in the Basilian convents dismantled after the council of Trent
Project created in collaboration with InnovaPuglia.
Regione Puglia
Regione Puglia