Puglia travel:
Art and Nature in Salento

Otranto Center

A number of places, the coasts above all, are remarkable landscapes and environments, among them the Alimini Lakes, on the Adriatic coast, and Porto Selvaggio, on the Ionic coast. The soil is very fertile, some of the finest olive trees and grapes grow here, and their products are exported worldwide. Its coasts are varied, and can be sandy or rocky, but all boast pristine beaches and crystal-clear waters. Some of the most renowned locations in Salento for summer holidays (from May/June to September) are: Ostuni, Oria, Ugento, Manduria, Porto Cesareo, Gallipoli, Torre dell'Orso, Otranto, Santa Maria di Leuca.

Salento is a peaceful land full of history and traditions whose strong points are its natural and architectural beauties, its hospitality, its magic atmosphere, its several wonders to discover, its warm sun, its blue sky, its crystal sea and its dreamlike coast.

From the LAKES OF ALIMINI to OTRANTO, an ancient Salento town of messapic origin. Visit to the old town within the town walls with towers, to the seventeenth century cathedral, which still retains a gothic rose window dating back to 1400 and a baroque portal.

Photo © James Symington

Visit to the church of S. Pietro built between the 10th and 11th century and to the Castle built by Ferdinando of Aragon

Continue to the ZINZULUSA CAVE, which is reached by means of an open passageway in the cliffs. The cave is scientifically important because it houses warm interglacial fauna and steppe and very rare hypogeus fauna. The Zinzula cave gets its name from the stalactites, which look like Zinzuli (rags). Lunch at a typical restaurant (La Zinzulusa)

In the afternoon a visit to LEUCA located between Punta Meliso and Punta Ristola: it was an ancient messapica origin town dividing the waters of the Adriatic Sea from those of the Ionian Sea.

Gallipoli, spiaggia della "Puritate"
Photo © Luciana Coletti -*Elle*

Visit to the Sanctuary of Santa Maria, probably built on an ancient temple dedicated to the goddess Minerva.

Continue to Gallipoli, fortified and enclosed within high walls, which protected it for centuries. In the center of the old town there is the Cathedral dating back to 1600 and built by great masters, the Angevin castle with its cylindrical and square-based towers.

Return to LAKES OF ALIMINI

courtesy in part of Alimini Village at Lake Alimini