Lecce is a noble and elegant city located in Salento, in South of Puglia, and it encloses among the narrow alleys, the churches, the monuments and the palaces, the richness and the prestige of a millenial history. Definitively marked by the Lecce Baroque architecture, the city offers a heritage of incomparable beauty, and that’s the reason why it is called the “Florence of the South”. It is precisely from the 1500s to the 1700s that Lecce lives one of its best moments, when artists and intellectuals made it an important centre of art and culture giving life to a new artistic movement, the Lecce Baroque style, following the baroque taste developed in the rest of Italy. In Salento the Baroque style learns to use the features of the leccese stone, a limestone particularly moldable and solid at the same time, with a golden colour.
The guided tour will start at Porta Napoli, one of the entrance gate which is still preserving the glory of past times. Walking along Via Palmieri we could see elegant and noble palaces until we reach Piazza Duomo, the centre of the religious life in Lecce. Here you’ll learn about origin and development of Lecce’s Baroque and the cathedral, embellished by two facades. (ticket non included) We’ll continue to Corso Vittorio Emanuele and the we’ll be in Piazza Sant’Oronzo, in the beating heart of the old city where an extraordinary and interesting stratification of different styles and period of times is concentrated. We’ll admire the impressive facade of Santa Croce Basilica, symbol of the Baroque style from Lecce, where every architectural element is perfectly carved and placed and brings with it a specific meaning. (ticket non included) Last but not least, the tour will finish enjoying a typical pasticciotto, a short pastry filled up with custard. The tour will be operated by Valeria or Mario tour guides.
You will make your own way to the meeting points