"la penisola Salentina" Salento by Flamegirl

I shared a flat with a couple from this area, and they were kind enough to invite me to stay when they went home for the summer.

Due to my flatmate's racing-driver tendencies, it was impossible to get him to stop the car in time to take photos of the things I saw. However, much of that part of Puglia is a very flat, arid landscape dotted with olive groves, some trees dating back hundreds of years.

The local sandstone, extremely typical of the area and found in abundance in the provincial capital of Lecce, is the same yellow colour as this building here; equally Lecce is famous for its baroque architecture, which has earned it the adage of "the Florence of the South".

Capo d'Otranto

Further south around Otranto (wow, Shakespeare must have had such an experience exploring Italy, 500 years ago) the land gets less flat... even builds into cliffs at the coast, which give fairly impressive views, on a clear day, across the straits to Albania.

Salento coastline north of Otranto

Another very characteristic aspect of this region is the proliferation of lookout towers. Understandably considering Puglia's geography, the area was very vulnerable to attack by enemy pirates and invading forces, most commonly Turks and Saracens (or pirates from the other side of the Adriatic coast).

If you understand Italian and want to know more about rich the history and culture of this area, check out: www.salentonline.it
www.terrasalento.it www.quisalento.it