Basilica of Santa Croce
InexpensiveLecce baroque at its most exuberant
A façade carved over a century and a half with figures, animals and fruit, crowned by a great rose window.
Centro storicoBaroqueMust-see
Lecce & Salento, Italy
Ideal: 3–4 daysBest: May–Jun, Sep–OctPrice: Moderate
In 60 seconds
Lecce & Salento in 60 seconds
Lecce is the baroque jewel of the south, built from a soft golden limestone that 17th-century masons carved like icing — the façade of Santa Croce is a riot of cherubs, beasts and garlands. A Roman amphitheatre lies half-excavated in the main square, and the old town is made for evening strolls. Around it stretches the Salento, the heel of Italy, between the Adriatic and the Ionian: Otranto with its cathedral's 12th-century mosaic floor, the cliffs and sea pools of Roca Vecchia, white Gallipoli on its island, and the cape at Santa Maria di Leuca. Breakfast is a warm pasticciotto, coffee comes iced with almond milk, and lunch might be ciceri e tria. Three or four days; summer for the beaches, spring and autumn for everything else.
BaroqueCoast
Best for
- Food
- Beaches
- Architecture
Known for
- Lecce baroque
- Santa Croce
- Otranto
- Pasticciotto
Skip if
You want big-city museums — the Salento is about light, stone, sea and food; and in August its beaches are packed.
Your match
Choose a few travel interests and we will show how well Lecce & Salento fits them. Choose interests
See
Must experience
The things that would make the trip incomplete without them.
Piazza Sant'Oronzo & the Roman amphitheatre
A Roman arena in the main square
Half of a 2nd-century amphitheatre lies sunk below street level; the rest is still under the buildings around it.
Centro storicoFreeRoman
Otranto
Walled town and its mosaic cathedral
The cathedral floor is a 12th-century mosaic tree of life, full of kings, beasts and zodiac signs; the castle and sea are steps away.
OtrantoCoastMosaic
Eat
Where to eat
A short list, kept short on purpose. Each entry answers one question: when is this the right choice?
More places to eat
Too few picks yet for their own heading, so they share this list.
Alle Due Corti
ModerateSalento home cooking, menu in dialect
Ciceri e tria, ricciaredde and the dishes of Salento grandmothers, from a family who have cooked them for decades.
Centro storicoFamily runTraditional
Pasticceria Natale
InexpensivePasticciotto and gelato
A warm custard pasticciotto in the morning and good gelato later.
Centro storicoGelatoPasticciotto
Beyond the obvious
Hidden gems
Less obvious, rarely queued for, and usually the part people remember.
Grotta della Poesia, Roca Vecchia
A natural sea pool in the rock
A round pool of clear seawater open to the sky, where locals jump from the rim; arrive early in summer.
Roca VecchiaCoastSwimming
Gallipoli old town
A white town on an island
A maze of whitewashed lanes and fishermen's churches on an island linked by a bridge; sunsets over the Ionian.
GallipoliCoastSeafood
Orientation
Neighbourhoods
How the city is actually divided, and what each part is for.
Centro storico
Baroque lanes within the old gates
Churches, palazzi and papier-mâché workshops, golden in the evening light.
Stay
Where to stay
Areas rather than hotels — pick the right one and the rest follows.
Lecce old town
ModerateB&Bs in historic palazzi
Stay in Lecce and drive to a different coast each day.
AtmosphericWalkable
Masserie
ExpensiveFortified farmhouses among olive groves
A restored masseria with its own olive oil is the classic Puglian stay.
CountrysidePool
Practical
Know before you go
- Getting in
- Brindisi airport is about 40 minutes away; trains from Bari take around an hour and a half.
- Getting around
- Walk Lecce; hire a car for the coasts, as local trains and buses are slow.
- When to go
- May, June, September and October; August is very busy on the beaches.
- Taste locally
- Pasticciotto, rustico leccese, caffè leccese with almond milk, frisa, orecchiette, burrata and Primitivo or Negroamaro wine.
Context
History in 5 minutes
Enough to make what you are looking at legible.
- 100s
Roman Lupiae builds its amphitheatre.
- 1163–1165
The monk Pantaleone lays Otranto Cathedral's mosaic floor.
- 1480
Ottoman forces sack Otranto; its martyrs are remembered in the cathedral.
- 1549–1695
Santa Croce rises, the masterpiece of Lecce baroque.
Further out
Nearby escapes
Worth a day if you have one to spare.
Alberobello & the Valle d'Itria
Trulli and white hill towns
Conical trulli and the white towns of Ostuni and Locorotondo — they have their own guide.
1 hr 15 min by carUNESCOVillages