Otranto
Mosaics, skulls, crypts and biblical-meets-tropical imagery: Otranto's cathedral is like no other in Italy. It was built by the Normans in the 11th…
Getty Images/Robert Harding World Imagery
Salento
The Penisola Salentina, better known simply as Salento, is hot, dry and remote, retaining a flavour of its Greek past. It stretches across Italy's heel from Brindisi to Taranto and down to Santa Maria di Leuca. Here the lush greenery of Valle d'Itria gives way to flat, ochre-coloured fields hazy with wildflowers in spring, and endless olive groves.
Attractions
Must-see attractions
Lecce
It seems that hallucinating stonemasons have been at work on the basilica. Sheep, dodos, cherubs and beasties writhe across the facade, a swirling…
Lecce
Descend through Lecce's rich historical strata in this fascinating home-turned-museum, where sewerage excavations led to the chance discovery of an…
Museo Nazionale Archeologico di Taranto
Taranto
Sitting unassumingly in a side street in Taranto's new town is one of Italy's most important archaeological museums, chiefly dedicated to the archaeology…
Tempio di San Giovanni al Sepolcro
Brindisi
This 12th-century church, a brown bulk of Norman stone conforming to the circular plan the Templars so loved, is a wonderfully evocative structure,…
Basilica di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria
Salento
Most people come to Galatina to see the incredible 14th-century Basilica di Santa Caterina d’Alessandria. Its interior is a kaleidoscope of frescoes and…
Lecce
Giuseppe Zimbalo's 1659 reconstruction of Lecce's original 12th-century cathedral is recognised as being among his finest work. Zimbalo, Lecce's famous…
Salento
An aperture on the Ionian coast below Castro leads into the magnificent stalactite-festooned Cave of Zinzulusa, one of the most significant coastal…
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