Mosaic of Abel and Cain offering presents to God on the floor of the central nave, Otranto duomo (cathedral), Otranto, Lecce, Apulia, Italy, Europe

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

  • Mosaic of Abel and Cain offering presents to God on the floor of the central nave, Otranto duomo (cathedral), Otranto, Lecce, Apulia, Italy, Europe

    Cathedral

    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…

  • Baroque facade of Basilica di Santa Croce.

    Basilica di Santa Croce

    Lecce

    It seems that hallucinating stonemasons have been at work on the basilica. Sheep, dodos, cherubs and beasties writhe across the facade, a swirling…

  • Museo Faggiano

    Museo Faggiano

    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

    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

    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,…

  • the Duomo in Lecce

    Piazza del Duomo

    Lecce

    Piazza del Duomo is a baroque feast, the city's focal point and a sudden open space amid the surrounding enclosed lanes. During times of invasion the…

  • Interiors of a museum, Francesco Ribezzo Provincial Archaeological Museum, Brindisi, Province of Brindisi, Puglia, Italy

    Museo Archeologico Provinciale Ribezzo

    Brindisi

    This superb museum covers several floors with well-documented exhibits (in English), including some 3000 bronze sculptures and fragments in Hellenistic…

  • Basilica di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria

    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…

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