Lecce

Lecce is built from pietra leccese, a local limestone that comes out of the ground soft enough to be worked with a knife and hardens on exposure, and the seventeenth-century masons took full advantage: the facade of Santa Croce carries a depth of carving, figures, beasts, fruit and foliage, that would be impossible in harder stone. The whole centre is worked in the same warm pale material. Under the main square, excavation found a Roman amphitheatre of the second century, partly exposed and partly still under the buildings, and a smaller theatre survives a few streets away.

History

Legend tells of a city called Sybar, founded by the Messapians at the time of the Trojan War and taken by the Romans in the 3rd century BC, who named it Lupiae. Under the emperor Hadrian, in the 2nd century AD, it was renamed Licea or Litium and moved 3 km to the north-east, with a theatre, an amphitheatre and a link to the Hadrian Port, today San Cataldo (Wikipedia, Lecce).

What's there

• Santa Croce - the facade, carved to a depth other stone will not allow.
• The Roman amphitheatre - half-exposed under the main square.
• Piazza del Duomo - a closed square entered through a single gateway.
• The papier-mâché tradition - Lecce's other long-standing craft.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Puglia in July and August is extremely hot and the coast fills with Italian holidaymakers. Lecce is a university town and quieter in August when students leave. Santa Croce is frequently under scaffolding.

Practical notes

Santa Croce has spent long periods under restoration scaffolding, which removes the single best thing in the city; check before travelling. The soft stone erodes and much of the carving elsewhere is weathered. Summer heat in the Salento is severe. The city is a base for the coast rather than a beach destination itself.

Nearby

Otranto and the Salento coast are 45 minutes; Alberobello is two hours north.

Key facts