| LECCE |
| GREEK SALENTO |
| THE TRULLI AND THE MASSERIE |
| TOWERS AND CASTLES |
| COAST TO COAST |
| FLAVOUR |
| ART & CULTURE |
LECCE
In no other southern Italian city can you find such Baroque splendour as in Lecce. This Baroque flourishing dates back to the imperial 1539 decree of Charles V of Hapsburg who elected the city the regional Apulian capital. This decree triggered off an amazing building explosion that lasted for more than two centuries. Architects, sculptors and stonecutters found no difficulty in modelling the typical Lecce stone, decorating the facades and interiors of churches and palaces with columns, cornices, festoons, flowers and fruit, puttos, masks and caryatids.
In no other southern Italian city can you find such Baroque splendour as in Lecce. This Baroque flourishing dates back to the imperial 1539 decree of Charles V of Hapsburg who elected the city the regional Apulian capital. This decree triggered off an amazing building explosion that lasted for more than two centuries. Architects, sculptors and stonecutters found no difficulty in modelling the typical Lecce stone, decorating the facades and interiors of churches and palaces with columns, cornices, festoons, flowers and fruit, puttos, masks and caryatids.
There are three must-sees: the Santa Croce complex, that of the cathedral and
those of Saints Niccolò and Cataldo outside the walls.
