SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

The apulian Phoenix

Alezio has ancient origins and, as some say, that it was founded by Lizio Idomeneo (mythical king of Crete), and some say that was founded by Messapi that similarly named it Alytia, to remember their homeland and their capital, the city of Alytia, in Acarnania.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

Land of centurions

The name Casarano (Caesaranum) probably refers to a vast territory owned by such a Caesar, a Roman centurion who received the area as a reward for a battle won, but no archaeological evidence has confirmed the origin.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

The "little snails" of Puglia

The inhabitants of the Cape Castrignano are nicknamed "little snails" because of an episode of history and legend: during a procession in honor of St. Joseph, a storm broke out and gave the faithful to flee in search of shelter...

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

The Pearl of Salento.

According to some scholars, for the first time Enea docked in this town. Indeed Virgil wrote in Eneide that Trojan hero saw a temple of Minerva before landing.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

The military citadel of Salento

According to some assumptions, the town would have Greek origins as established during the period of the Magna Greece; according to other sources, its birth dates back to Roman times, however, for others, even to pre-Roman period, by Messapi old population of the place.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

The first historical document that talks of Galatina is a deed of 1178 which is cited in the farmhouse in Sancti Petri Galatina.
Tradition has it that the apostle St. Peter used to stop in this place in his journey from Antioch to Rome. Only after the unification of Italy, the city resumed its original name of Galatina.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

The Ionian Pearl

Kallipolis (Greek), or in Latin Callipolis, was a city in the eastern part of the Thracian Chersonese ("Chersonesus Thracica" in Greek, now known as the Gallipoli Peninsula), on the right shore, and at the entrance of the Dardanelles.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

The Florence of Southern Italy

Lecce is the city where the development of Baroque art in local stone , limestone, malleable, and very suitable for working with a scalpel, was most elaborate. It is called Lecce's Baroque, and for the beauty of its monuments, the city is called the Florence of the south.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

The first evidence of human settlements on the site dates to the Bronze Age (or even the Early Iron Age). The first inhabitants were presumably descendants of the Neolithic peoples: they were able to build villages, breed and tame oxen and horses, raise monuments (specchie, dolmens, menhirs) and use agriculture with profit.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

The headquarters of the Notte della Taranta

Every year there is held in the second half of August, the night of Taranta, musical event that brings tens of thousands of people in town for a night of pizzica and traditional culture of Salento. This and other musical events are held in the large square outside the church of Our Lady of Carmel and the former convent of the Augustinians, in a picturesque setting.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

Mesagne was an important Messapian centre (from VI to III century BC), in a strategic position in the middle of the road that joined Oria and Brindisi harbor. Its name derives from its position: Messania became Mesania at the time of the Greeks and Mediana under the Romans, but was already "Misagne" in 500.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

According to tradition, the city was founded by a group of Cretan-Mycenaean. A legend says the city was founded in 3559 BC by the mythological Nereus, from the Greek island of Lefkada.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

The White City

Ostuni's area has been inhabited since the Stone age. The town is reputed to have been originally established by the Messapii, a pre-classic tribe, and destroyed by Hannibal during the Punic Wars. It was then re-built by Greek colons, since the current name derives from the Greek Astu néon ("new town"). Sacked after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, in 996 AD the town became part of the Norman County of Lecce.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

Gateway between East and West

Otranto is the easternmost city of Italy, Byzantine center and later Aragonese domain, is built around the impressive castle and cathedral.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

In Roman times Porto Cesareo was called Portus Sasinae (the only remains of that period are seven monolithic columns of onion marble immersed in the sea) when it was an important stopover trade port for agricultural products of the rich hinterland.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

Finibus Terrae: where Ionian and Adriatic seas meet

Legend tells us that Santa Maria di Leuca (or perhaps Porto Badisco) was the first landing of Aeneas. Then St. Peter, who arrived from Palestine, landed here to start his work of evangelization, and then on to Rome where he founded the Church. It was then that Leuca assumed his full name "Santa Maria di Leuca.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

The silver beach of Salento

The name derives from the presence of a coastal tower of the sixteenth century, used to sight the Turkish ships bound to the coast of Salento. According to some hypothesis, the place would bear reference to the monk seal. More likely would be due to Urso, the surname of the ancient landowner.

SIGE by Kubik-Rubik.de

The impregnable fortress of Salento

The peak period for the city is what modern historians call "archaic age", more than a millennium before the coming of Christ when Ozan (ancient name of Ugento) found the roots of a civilization that has produced a great megalithic walled defense (with a perimeter of 5 km, in some places reaches a height of 14 m and the width of 8 m), the first minting of coins as the basis of economic exchanges, precious artefacts in clay and bronze and the statue of Zeus, protector of the city.