About Salento
Salento is that strip of land that forms the heel of the boot (lo Stivale = Italy). It is located between two wonderful seas: the Ionian (west) and the Adriatic (East).
There are more than 250 Km of coast which is at times low and sandy and at times high and indented.
In the oriental part it was a land of conquest with the passing of the Greeks, the Byzantine and the Barbarian pirates. The first inhabitants of Salento were the
Messaps, famous horse breeders, who arrives from the Illyrian shores.
Salento is a peninsular region belonging to the South-eastern part of Puglia.
Geographically speaking Salento corresponds to the old land of Otranto. It embraces the whole province of Lecce, with 97 villages and 39 small hamlets
surrounded by the green of secular olive-yards, tobacco and vineyards. It has white houses, narrow and winding roads where everyone has its own dialect.
However in some villages, along the axis linking Ostuni to Taranto, - almost all Brindisi hamlet and Taranto one - Greek is still spoken.
It stretches from the so called 'soglia messapica' to the Cape of Santa Maria di Leuca, between the Gulf of Taranto (Ionic) and the Otranto Canal (Adriatic).
Salento is also famous for its nature; there are exactly 1390 different species of flower plants


Castro is a coastal area of Salento located on the Adriatic side. It is 15 Km far from Otranto, 45 from Lecce, 50 from Gallipoli and 25 from Leuca.
It rises in the middle of a wonderful and unique coastal arch that goes from Otranto to S. Maria di Leuca.
There are about 2.500 inhabitants, but during the summer it becomes populated with tourists attracted by the small town. The one who arrives in Castro immediately
enters a pleasant dimension and is able to forget stress and city chaos rocked by various emotions that involve body and soul.
In these places the blue of the sea and the green of vegetation combines to show the most possibly various environment. From the characteristic Medieval
village, full of history, to the harbour close to which are seen small grotto's excavated in the rock that are used by the fishermen as storehouses, to its famous
grotto's, to its cliffs, to its sounding depth rich of fauna and flora that is the sub paradise, from its tasty cooking to amusements: all this aspects makes of Castro a
really magic place.

Salento is the most oriental region of Italy, a border land, like a balcony that faces two seas.
Salento history always met with the Oriental one, starting from the legend that sees in the inhabitant of Creta the founders of Lecce. This is also due to the
Mediterranean facing it and where a lot of civilisations meet.
During the Bronze Age the Salento peninsula was inhabited by Indo-European populations. Testimonies of this period are the ten dolmens and menhir that are in
the lower part of Salento.
The first inhabitants of this land, around the V century BC, were the Messaps who were dedicated to agriculture, horse breeding and pottery. This population gave
an impulse to the construction of cities with imposing walls.
However, already during the VIII century, Greek settlers founded along the coast cities such as Gallipoli, Otranto, Taranto that would become landmarks of Magna
Grecia, small capital cities more prestigious than that of the fatherland.
As regards the Greeks presence in Salento, there is still today a linguistic area named Greece of Salento. This Hellenic area is located in Lecce province, within
the heart of Salento, at South-East of the Salento peninsula. It has very ancient origins: some set the origins of the Greek area during the Byzantine period;
whereas others anticipate its birth to the period of Magna Grecia. This ethnic and linguistic minority embraces nine communes: Calimera, Castrignano dei Greci,
Corigliano d'Otranto, Martano, Martignano, Melpignano, Soleto, Sternatia and Zollino.
Immediately after the war in Taranto, Salento became a roman province.
Romans, conquering Salento, discovered sculpture, painting and the taste for poetry. One of the most important Roman writer and poet was Quinto Ennio who was
born in Messapica Rudiae, a city at the gates of Lecce where today there are still archaeological remains. Romans took advantage of their strategic position
strengthening the road system coming from the Urbe, making of Brindisi the terminus of the Appian and Traiana Way and building there harbours such as in San
Cataldo and Roca.

After the fall of the Roman Empire of Occident, Salento underwent the Byzantine and the Norman rule that, together with Federico II, brought the region to be once
again the centre of the world. Under the Swabian started a long period of decadence that went on under the Angevin, the Aragonese and the Spanish vice-regal
rule that brought new sacrifices to this land.
The peninsula went through a long period of sacks and destruction. The contacts with the Balkan side were intense till the invasions of the Goths, Longobards and
Byzantines. The latter ruled for many centuries. The constant penetration of the Orient Church characterised the religious life: firstly with the incoming of isolated
individuals escaping from religious and political persecutions, then with the spreading of monacheism in particular the one inspired to San Basilio. The followers of
San Basilio built everywhere coenobia gathering around them the population divided between prayers and field labour.
Another important but at the same time dramatic period for Salento was the Turks invasion that in 1480 attached and sacked Otranto whose resistance was
punished by the killing of 800 inhabitants.
This was one of the episodes that started the construction of guard-towers under the Spanish rule, starting from the sixteenth century, during the reign of Carlo V.
Lecce became, during the same period, one of the most beautiful and important city for cultural and artistic activities. Besides attracting nobles and scholars, it
also involved the inland with its baroque aspect.