Lecce, one of the most beautiful cities in our peninsula, better known as 'The Florence of the South', amazes and fascinates tourists from all over the world. Characterising and making this Salento treasure unique are the many noble palaces, churches and buildings in which Baroque art finds complete expression and literally leaves one breathless.
Completing this fantastic picture is the unspoilt nature made up of a crystal-clear sea and Mediterranean scrubland that colours and surrounds the entire Salento peninsula, the very area that gives life to the products of Salento's food and wine industry, which is also known the world over for the goodness of its culinary specialities.
What are the unmissable places in fantastic Lecce?
No need to kid yourself, Lecce is beautiful... with its narrow streets and baroque corners, it enchants and fascinates in every detail... that's why it is so difficult to draw up a list that sums up in a concise manner the most beautiful places you should not miss... but this is nevertheless a necessity for those who, having come from afar, need a vademecum of the stops you must necessarily visit to understand and above all admire such beauty with their own eyes!
One of the best-loved places in Lecce is undoubtedly the Duomo: its square is a veritable open-air museum, and it offers a unique spectacle at dusk when the warm rays of the sun strike the classic Lecce stone, giving the square and the surrounding buildings breathtaking colours.
A few steps away from the Duomo is the city's central square: Piazza Sant'Oronzo. Dedicated to the city's patron saint, this square is adjacent to the Roman Amphitheatre, a valuable historical testimony to the passage of the Romans and their imprint on the city.
The historical centre of the city should be completely toured far and wide; it holds surprises in every corner with Baroque niches and old noble houses with courtyards full of flowers and plants, which still invoke nostalgia for what Salento used to be, a land of simple and pure people devoted to a slow and quiet life.
Another one of the city's most important monuments and certainly a symbol of Baroque in Salento and the world is the Church of Santa Croce: the beauty of the façade and rose window of this church fully express the art of the 'Renaissance' that affected this deep southern city, making it one of the most important Baroque cities in Italy: this church is a riot of putti, flowers, berries and monstrous animals, a true symbol of Baroque art in the world.
A visit is also a must to Porta Rudiae, the Castle of Charles V and the Abbey of Santa Maria Cerrate.
Getting lost in the history of Lecce
In addition to being a superbly loved city from an artistic point of view, we have seen that Lecce is first and foremost a city of history: the Sigismondo Castromediano Museum, one of the oldest archaeological museums in Apulia, with a small picture gallery and a lapidary, in which the remains of the Messapian civilisation and Roman settlements are preserved, testifying to how old Lecce is. The Ubiche Walls of Lecce, built by Charles V to curb Turkish incursions, are also magnificent.
Visiting Lecce means having a real feast of delicacies not only for the eyes, thanks to the artistic beauties of the city, but above all to taste some of Lecce's specialities such as the 'Pasticciotto leccese' or the famous 'rustico', for an excellent sweet or savoury brunch, surrounded by the warmth and simplicity that have always characterised this wonderful city in Salento where nature, cuisine, history and art create a unique spectacle!
