Raffaello Apartments
"the lady of the Baroque"
between art
and sea
The southernmost city in the east of Italy is Lecce, it counts 100,000 inhabitants and is located in a thin flat strip of land between two seas, Adriatco sea and Ionian sea: the Salento. This land has ancient origins, numerous witnesses of the Neolithic, of the Roman, medieval and Renaissance up to the present day. Famous throughout the world as "the lady of the Baroque" Lecce has a rich artistic heritage consisting of churches,
buildings and works of art of indisputable quality. The important remains of the Roman era (amphitheater, theater, Hadrian's Wharf in San Cataldo), mediaevale (castle Carlo V, Porta Napoli,
Santo Spirito Hospital) and Renaissance, tell us a thriving city, but it is precisely in the seventeenth century who was born and consecrates the eyes of the world its unique architectural style and surprising, it can not be defined differently if not the "Lecce
Baroque". An aggravation of shapes and features carved in stone, local stone, a soft limestone, compact presenting clear colors, almost golden. The objective, fully achieved, of this architectural style is to stimulate the imagination, to surprise the observer and turn his fantasy. With floral patterns and mythological characters the baroque Lecce lives a very strong contradiction between the rigidity of stone and unregulated shaped in the form sip the centuries by skilled stonemasons who, by hand strictly, gave rein to their imagination to
create these amazing art works with stone, representing our heritage.
But Lecce is not only art! It is at the center of the Salento peninsula, where hundreds of kilometers of coastline make it meet with the sea. There are numerous beaches with fine sand and crystal clear water, cliffs and coves of great beauty landscaping. Very important from an architectural point of view but also from the natural is Gallipoli and Porto Cesario (Ionian coast) Otranto (Adriatic coast), you can not miss a visit to the beaches of Punta Prosciutto and The Bay of the Turks. There are many events in the life of Salento but among all we remember not to miss La Focara Novoli on the occasion of the celebration of Santo Antonio Abate (controlled lighting of a
large bonfire burning the town center lasting several days), Carnival Gallipoli (with the famous parade of papier-mâché floats), luminarie of Scorrano, and the night of the tarantula the biggest pop of Europe event held in Melpignano small town near Lecce, where hundreds of thousands of people peacefully invade across the country to participate in the musical evening and dancing to the rhythm of pizzica salentina, traditional dance and music, very old in our area.