The fascinating capital of the Salento is worth more than just a short visit, because it is there more than anywhere else that you can retrace the various epochs of Apulia's history.
The fascinating capital of the Salento is worth more than just a short visit, because it is there more than anywhere else that you can retrace the various epochs of Apulia's history.
The Roman amphitheatre near Piazza Sant'Oronzo was built in the 2nd century and seated up to 20,000 spectators. Lecce, at the time, was the empire's second most important harbor on the Adriatic Sea.
In the 16th century, under the rule of Charles V, the town regained new splendor.
At that time and into the 18th century, numerous buildings were built in the style of the Lecce Baroque.
The magnificent colors and forms of this style can be admired outside and inside such buildings as the cathedral, the Chiesa del Rosario and the Chiesetta San Marco.
The great joie de vivre reflected in the architectural elements and decorations of those buildings characterizes the inhabitants of Lecce and the inhabitants of the Salento region in general up to the present day.
Flourishing cultural life, a multitude of small shops, Old Town trattorias serving typical Salento dishes in a charming ambience – Lecce takes its visitors, as it were, by storm and wants to be enjoyed with leisure.
Lecce particularities are the figures of saints and nativity figures made of cartapesta, of papier-mâché. Compared to those made of stone and wood, they are easier to carry in processions.
The cartapesta tradition is alive in about 20 workshops in the Old Town, where the figures are produced the old way, with the right feeling and with passion.
Nearest sandy beach: San Cataldo
Nearest train station: Lecce
Contact us by email or phone (Mon - Fri 09:30 h - 17:00 h):
0049 941 / 56 76 46-0
