Let’s continue our tour of the best towns in Salento, through art and history!
Casarano
We strongly suggest that you visit the church of Santa Maria della Croce (St. Mary of the Cross) in the area of Casaranello: it is one of the most ancient places of Christian worship. Inside the church you can see Early Christian mosaics and Byzantine and Gothic frescoes.
Maglie
The historic centre is beautiful and has elegant palaces and refined shops. We suggest that you visit the “L’Alca” museum in Via Vittorio Emanuele 123 (one of the most important in the area) and the former “Lamarque” tannery, in Via Roma.
Muro Leccese
Ancient Messapian town, a few kilometres away from Otranto. Veritable model of fortified town since 1400, full of churches and peculiar squares. Piazza del Popolo (The people’s Square) seems to be out of time, surrounded by wonderful churches – such as the church of Madonna Immacolata (Immaculate Virgin Mary) and the church of Annunziata (the Annunciation of Our Lady) – and palaces: in the palace of prince Protonobilissimo you can visit the fascinating museum of Borgo Terra, with important archaeological finds.
Taurisano
There are a few interesting attractions that we think you should visit: the façade of the twelfth-century church of SS. Maria della Strada (Blessed Mary of the Street), Piazza Castello and the Mother Church and the seventeenth-century Ducal Palace, now town hall.
Tricase (in the picture)
Outside Tricase, in the borough of S. Eufemia, on the road to Alessano, there is the Brazilian crypt of Madonna del Gonfalone (Our Lady of the Gonfalon), dug in the rock. It is likely to date back to the ninth century and it contains frescoes of the fourteenth/sixteenth centuries. A stroll in the downtown area, in piazza Pisanelli, allows visitors to admire churches and ancient palaces, such as the palace of the Gallone princes, whose towers and body date back respectively to the fourteenth and to the seventeenth centuries. The palace is today used as town hall and headquarters of the “Capo di Leuca” LAG.
The Mother Church, containing stuccos and friezes, stands opposite the convent and the church of Dominicans, even more Baroque. On the road to Tricase Porto, you can admire the huge Valonia oak: it is said to be eight centuries old and to be able to shelter “one hundred knights” under its fronds.
It is impossible to miss the beauties of Tricase, one of the best towns in Salento!