Lecce Old Town
Centro storico di Lecce
A baroque city on the Salento Peninsula, where honey-coloured Lecce stone carvings cover church facades, earning it the nickname 'Florence of the South'.
Lecce's old town is famous for its 17th-century 'Lecce Baroque' style. The local honey-coloured limestone is soft and easy to carve, so craftsmen could create elaborate flowers, fruits, angels and monsters on church facades. The must-see Basilica of Santa Croce has the peak of this style on its front. Piazza del Duomo is a square enclosed on all four sides, and its bell tower is about 70 metres tall and looks particularly lovely at night. Piazza Sant'Oronzo contains a partly open-air Roman amphitheatre ruin. The old town is not large, and you can see the main sights in half a day. Several churches sell combined tickets for a few euros. Lecce is also a centre of cartapesta, papier-mâché sculpture, and you can buy handmade little angels at workshops. Try the pasticciotto, a shortcrust pastry filled with custard, with a caffè in ghiaccio con latte di mandorla, an iced coffee with almond milk. Lecce is about 1.5 hours by train from Bari. Use it as a base to visit the beaches of the Salento Peninsula and Otranto.
Opening hours
Old town open all day; church usually 09:00–21:00 (shorter in winter), partly closed at midday
Nearby sights
- Roman Amphitheatre & Piazza Sant'Oronzo
- Basilica of Santa Croce
- Lecce Cathedral & Piazza del Duomo
- Castle of Charles V
- Museo Faggiano
- Porta Napoli
- Basilica of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria, Galatina
- Nardò