Lecce

Introducing Lecce

Central Lecce can make you giddy – the town is built of stone that glints gold and cream in the sunlight, a local material that starts off malleable yet soon hardens, making it perfect for building and sculpting. The churches are laden with barmy baroque architecture: asparagus column tops, decorative dodos and cavorting gremlins. Swooning 18th-century traveller Thomas Ashe thought it ‘the most beautiful city in Italy’, but the less-impressed Marchese Grimaldi said the façade of Santa Croce made him think a lunatic was having a nightmare.

Either way, it’s a lively, graceful university town, packed with upmarket boutiques, antique shops and furniture restorers. Convenient for both the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, it’s a great base for exploring the Penisola Salentina.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009