This city was founded on IV century b. C. around Messapi and kept its large past time... There you could find between its people and colonizers, in order of apparition, Romani, Normanni, Svevi, Angioini and Aragonesi people. The Emperor Adriano who ordered the road construction to join Brindisi and Lecce, joining this last city with on the sea. Lecce role was mainly of commercial nature. Amphitheater ruins, from Roman period, capable to accommodate 25,000 visitors, stills visible to people walking the town.
You can visit without hustle, near to the place, the historical center, developed around the Piazza Sant'Oronzo , with the statue of the Holy on column dominating Rome Amphitheater. But the gold period, called Firenze del Sud , arrives more late, on horseback, between the Sixteenth and the Seventeenth century. In this phase the palaces, the convent and the churches of the town are decorated with rich baroque style, thanks to all work of scalped rock done on lecciso, the white typical stone of the place. In the Basilica di Santa Croce the baroque lecciso is very expressive: monsters and caryatid decorate its facade, even if the insides preserve a certain renaissance harshness.
Traveling via Vittorio Emanuele you arrive to the Piazza del Duomo, a sort of fifth theatrical that Propilei permits enjoy. The scene space, in the secondary Cathedral facade, from the mole of the Seminar and the Palazzo Vescovile gives to the visitor a singular and surprising effect. It cannot be omitted, also in a rushed town trip, the Lecce periphery, with a lot of pines, oaks, the sweet smelling of oleander. Following the outside avenues by Otranto and Gallipoli, Porta Napoli, which was the Triumph Arc built in honor of Carlo V, the palace of the Università Salentina, Porta Rudiae and Porta San Biagio, and above all the Castle upright to Carlo V in XVI Century, rich of renaissance friezes.

Town disputed and fortified, Otranto outsides evocates no ordinary events... Walking its labyrinth you will be surprised Strolling between the mazes of its alleys, leaving to be surprised by slopes of overhanging rocks on the sea, you would breath an Orient's perfume. But it is not alone poetry the history of this Occident's outpost. There is preserved in the Cappella dei Martiri della Cattedrale the restive of the inhabitants that refused to convert to Islam, which was imposed in Saracen. In 1480 the Turkish soldiers for 15 days took of siege the town, killing and doing slaves all inhabitants. To admire the wall and immense mole of the Aragon Castle you have to jump a crystal-clear sea and understand that this city was disputed in centuries also by Rome, Venetia and Levant. You can visit easily and quickly the beaches around Otranto, in car or boat. The immersions lovers cannot lack a trip to Capo d'Otranto, promontory between sky and lonely and rocky sea

Sea and land classic cuisine in this region: a typical masseria pugliese. Around year 1000 with ? Norman occupation, the masserie (from the Latin massa, in rustic construction) there was born the long roads, with extensive trips, in migrating period, from the Appennines to the Puglia. Initially it was an agricultural sort of businesses, working olive, the grape and mandorlo. There was not possible to be sovereign, except for that for the kneading and his family. By 1700 appeared the house of country of the new bourgeoisie, with impressive statues and baluster, elements of the country Baroque. But only in the last years became houses for paying hosts and ancient tastes restaurants. An advice? It Tenuta Torre Pinta in Otranto, a torre di avvistamento from late Medieval period used as hotel and restaurant with regional cuisine.

Towards the extreme point of the Italian Boot, after Capo d'Otranto, you find Porto Badisco. The small center is well known to be the homeland of the riccio, and the picturesque festival in August is dedicated to it. Continuing the south bound, where the Adriatic waters merge on Jonio, you can find Santa Cesarea Terme, where is notable the therapeutic quality of its waters. It is a vacation center from 1920s, in which the houses in Morocco style remember the Saracen domain in this Italy area. Santa Cesarea, and Serra di Certignano barrier have during complete year a temperate climate, almost spring in winter and fresh in summer, mitigated by the sea breeze. The air, sweet smelling of jodio and ozone, is given back healthier from the pinewood and from the high plateau, reaching all areas and returning over this region. A spacious belvedere balcony was constructed on the top of the hill, and there you can see all charming promontory landscaping, to Capo di Santa Maria di Leuca.

The coastal profile extended from Santa Cesarea Terme to Castro draws a characteristic scythe of moon, on that themselves appear Porto Miggiano, the Grotte Romanelli and the Zinzulusa. Entering to Castro, you will see, as returning to the past time, a characteristic town of the past time: also here, like in Otranto, you can see Byzantine crypts, with adjacent Rome cathedral, and an wall enclosure with towers and bastions. Historically, Castro Marina remembers Otranto, since Otranto has numerous assaults from the sea, from Saracen and Turks. In this coastal area, the Santa Maria di Leuca cave is the most important in Salento, around which much legends exist. The more visited one is Zinzulusa whose name derives from the dialect word "zìnzuli" (fringes), which indicates the fantastic formation of stalactites and stalagmites that you can find there. The famous end of everything is however the close Romanelli Cave, where were found a singular "graffiti," traces from Paleolithic presence of men and until the Metal Age. In a next area were found surprising restive of animals, among which the elephant, the rhinoceros, but also the ibex and a sort of boreal penguin, an bird that is almost incapable to fly."

On splendid bay of Porto Badisco is possible to stop in one of the small local (the Bar di Carlo, for example) in which they serve ricci di mare recently fished, with desired cut, sometimes live, with lemon juice, a hard grain brochette and a frozen white wine.

Ugento is an ancient town, which is testified by possenti mura and the numerous archeological sites in the zone. Nothing is known about the arrival of the populations called from the Greek "Messapiche" (that is "people that is in the middle to two seas") the first arriving there; but it is known the radical reorganization in this town around the VII Century b. C., based in typical urban model from the Greek town. Punto di riferimento della Magna Grecia, under Rome power became in capital of an immense zone, thanks also to the Portus Salentinus, the present Torre San Giovanni, where you can see the restive of the Roman port.
The fall of the Roman empire, happened in 476, marked also the decline for Ugento that, later on, was taken of aim from the Goti, Longobardi and Saraceni and, in six centuries, Ugento was reduced to ruins. When in 1399 it was annexed to the princedom of Taranto, its population was almost eight thousand inhabitants. In the center of this country you can find the Castello, austere and imposing, restored and reshaped more times in the years, the Cattedrale with Neoclassic facade, built to the beginnings of the century on the ruins of the ancient church destroyed by the Turks and the Museo archeologico accommodated in an ancient convent. Beaches in this coast are excellent, a paradise for the tourists that also can enjoy the secche of Ugento and seeking treasuries from shipwrecked

Going back by the coast, in North bound to Punta Pizzo, you can see Gallipoli bay, called also Green Bay for the intense sea color. The zone has great naturalistic interest, Li Foggi canal represents a halt for a lot of migrating birds. Not wonder that the ancient Greeks had called the town "kalè polis" (attractive town), since the ancient center is really charming. Evocative are its alleys, the bastion, the Medieval village, the castles and churches. The ancient place that rises on an island is connected to the mainland and to the new town from a bridge. Was this its more flourishing period? Around the seventeenth century, the Salentino Baroque influenced architecture and the style of very its works, like for example the facade of the Cattedrale di Sant'Agata. From the '600 is the church of the Purità, on Lungomare Nazario Sauro, seat of the port deck. Its Orient appearance and a lot of folk and cultural events that from some year hold this town, are the reason to many tourists travel to Gallipoli, considering it their tourism goal. Between its attractions is the place where you can find the earliest fish market. The fishermen unload the fished and offer it directly.... to be enjoyed with a piece of bread made in house.

You can find easily any local in Gallipoli in evocative positions. On the old town Bastion, for example, you have restaurant "Buena Vista" that propones exquisite tastes, all fish and crustaceous based. On the reef of Lungomare Marconi, the restaurant "Marechiaro," with private deck for the boats. The house's specialties (zuppe di pesce, olio and dolci artigianali) are served on spacious piles terrace, with little bridge access.