Houses and homes in Lecce - key information

Lecce is an historic town close to the beautiful coastline of south east Puglia.

Lecce is an historic town close to the beautiful coastline of south east Puglia. This fascinating centre in Salento, between the Ionian and Adriatic Sea, is a rich wine-producing area, and has an ancient history going back to the earliest Greek colonization of this area of Italy.

The foundations derive from Greek times, and as shown by the little owl still represented in the coat of arms, a bird sacred to goddess Minerva, who was especially worshipped in thie area of Magna Graecia, called Japigia. The town maintained Greek traditions, religious rites and dialect until very recent centuries.

The architecture features the church of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria, a national monument since 1886; the Chapel of St. Paul, which is where the traditional-magic celebrations called tarantate were performed until very recent years on 28 and 29 june. Inside the chapel there was a well providing water which was believed to heal those who had been bitten by Tarantula spider (the name came from the town of Taranto), and it was believed that its bite caused an histeric condition that could be cured with a magical dance - the tarantella.

Province: Lecce

Region: Puglia