Per maggiori informazioni puoi anche visitare www.specolizzi.it
Itinerarios Aconsejados
Puglia panhandle into the sea, beautiful garden overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, network of roads and maritime trades. Puglia, region where every foreigner is warmly welcomed and every needy is lent a helping hand. Guests are here to behold… try and guess how they will be treated.
LECCE also known as the capital of the Baroque style, "the Florence of Puglia" rich in incredibly beautiful monuments. A walk in the streets of the city centre - near Porta Rudiae - will be enough to admire many majestic sites, such as the Basilica di Santa Croce (Basilica of Saint Croce), Piazza del Duomo (Dome square), Chiese di SS. Nicolò e Cataldo (Churches of Saints Niccolò and Cataldo, commissioned by Tancredi), Chiesa di S. Matteo and Del Rosario (Churches of S. Matthew and of the Holy Rosary), l'Anfiteatro Flavio (The Flavio Amphitheatre), Palazzo del Governo (Palace of the Government), now seat of the Administration of the Province of Lecce (names have been given in their original forms, as well as in a translated one). In these Baroque-style Churches there are many bas-reliefs, made of a particulary soft local stone known as "tufo".
Otranto is eastern-most tip of Italy. Anciently known as "Hydruntum", Otranto was, for many years, the most important centre of the entire Salento: Those days commercial exchanges were flourishing, and from Hydruntum cristian expeditions set off for battle. In 1480 the byzantines' occupation put an end to the town's splendour. On that occasion the local people put up heroic resistance for 15 days, then the besieged town fell in the hands of the invaders. Locally known as "the pearl of Salento" for its beaches, Otranto is rich in tourist facilities and sights, such as the old town - lined up with small outlets swarming with people - and the majestic Aragonese Castle.The fortification, surrounded by a wide moat, overlooks the main access-road into town, whereas a big spike overlooks the sea. Its circular towers and its walls, kept in almost perfect conditions, are a clear example of open-sky architecture. Through a maze of narrow streets paved in pebblestone it is possible to reach the "Cattedrale dell'Annunziata" (Cathedral of the Announcer), while beholding the beautiful baroque-style decorations over the portal. Beautiful is the fretworked 16-spoke rose window. Inside the Cathedral on the floor is a beautiful mosaic representing a huge tree of life.
Gallipoli - whose meaning in Greek (Kalé polis) is beautiful city - is known as the Queen of the low Ionian region. Among its attractions is the old town, located on a little island (connected to the city centre by a bridge), some wonderful churches - with their façades made of a local sandy stone called "carparo" - gleaming in the sunset light, the "Cattedrale di S. Agata" (St. Agatha Cathedral), the "Chiesa di S. Francesco d'Assisi" (Church of St. Francis from Assisi), where the "Mallandrone", a wooden baroque-style crucifix is keptTthe "Castello Aragonese" (Aragonese Castle), standing out beside the fish market, seems to pop right out of the sea. The "Fontana Greca" (Greek Fountain), built during the Roman period and restored in 1547, is made of two façades with high reliefs representing scenes of classic mythology.
S.M. di Leuca southern-most tip of Salento, is the place where the seas surrounding salentine coasts (Adriatic and Ionian ones) meet (at Punta Ristola). A lighthouse, 47 metres high and 102 metres above sea level, overlooks the town from a promontory. Its beacons are visible 26.5 miles away from the lighthouse. The "Santuario della Madonna di S.M. di Leuca" (Sanctuary of the Holy Mother of Leuca), built on the ruins of a temple dedicated to Minerva, has been destroyed and rebuilt several times over the centuries. Thanks to Its geographical position Leuca has gained the appellation of "Santuario de Finibus Terrae" (Sanctuary of the Finibus Terrae), like a place of cult situated in the western-most place of Brittany. A monumental water fall, built as the terminal part of the "Acquedotto Pugliese" - Aqueduct of Puglia, the regional system of waterways, which is the biggest one in Europe - is made up of a cascade and two flights of stairs of more than 300 steps each links up the local Port to the Sanctuary.
