The popular traditions
Easter is the perfect time to come and celebrate the blossoming of spring in Leuca with the whole family or with friends. We have many plans for this celebration. Other than the numerous popular traditions, practices and customs linked to the most important and most cherished religious festival after Christmas, Easter and Easter Monday offer an opportunity to take advantage of a long break from work, to have a great time and to discover and explore the beauty of Salento and its renowned excellent gastronomy.
The traditional cuisine focuses on both sweet and savoury dishes designed specifically for Easter and, if you want to know more, see our post that we wrote last year.
But we want to tell you about the different, and more unusual, things that you can see and admire here. Without doubt, a fantastic idea would be to visit the most beautiful churches of the area, starting in our splendid Basilica of Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae. You can discover more about their Easter festivities by visiting the cathedral’s website. A church modest from the outside yet of outstanding beauty inside, richly frescoed, with a fascinating museum which is kissed by both sea and sky. But there are also many churches which are less well-known but which are still well worth a visit. The Cristo Re church in Leuca has a Romanesque-Gothic appearance and wonderful stain-glass windows.
A real unexplored gem, full of charm, is the town of Barbarano del Capo, in the municipality of Morciano di Leuca, which we want to focus on in this post. In this small village there are ancient religious buildings, built for pilgrims, such as the so-called Leuca Piccola or the Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Leuca del Belvedere, identical to the Basilica of Leuca of 1685, a real trip back in time.
Morciano di Leuca has buildings rich in history, such as its imposing castle. Undoubtedly more famous is the Parish dedicated to San Giovanni Elemosiniere. The church was built in the second half of the sixteenth century and has, in a perfect Renaissance style, a magnificent entrance porch. Its grandeur and austere appearance derive from the fact that it was a fortified church. The church of Carmine di Morciano is also worth a visit because of its prestigious canvas paintings.
Our last suggestion for this Easter 2018 is a visit to the exhibition of the great photographer Oliviero Toscani that closes on 31st March at Castello di Oltranto, one of the many beautiful Castles of Aragonese that underpin our land and one of the most active cultural attractions of Salento.
We have given you a number of suggestions for how to spend Easter in a different way, off the beaten track. We look forward to sharing together the celebrations and traditions, nature, spirituality, culture and gastronomy.