1. Lecce, capital of Salento and of the Apulian Baroque

Historical background and the growth of the baroque art

Lecce, the capital of Salento, has always been considered a noble city, the most noble one in Apulia, admired for the fine cultural heritage reflected in its architecture, churches and old buildings (palazzi). The city is indeed a refined and precious Baroque gem, offering its citizens and guests a delicate brocade of amazing sights: a play of light and shadow, the vine-laced contours of a well, the leaves of an ancient capital, the cherub’s wings.

The period from the late 1500's to the mid-1600's marks Lecce's finest epoch, and many monuments and religious buildings remain to testify its prosperous past. Known in the past as "Caput Apuliae", Lecce is still today one the Italian capitals of the baroque, perhaps the most unique. The term “baroque” is commonly used to describe what is strange, exceptionally bizarre, and designates the artistic feeling predominant in Rome around 1630. Its most outstanding creative forces were Bernini, Borromini, and Pietro della Cortona. Both monarchy and church trusted to art to immortalize their glory, wanting very much to leave an enduring sign over history. The baroque of Lecce is quite singular and different for the standard style, whose highest representation can be found in Rome, and can be discovered through the lovely balconies, windows and doors all decked out in stony floral garlands. Art often reveals the soul of a population, and Lecce’s baroque is representative of the town but also of the whole region. Therefore to better understand this sign, you have to know the Salento culture which mingles with the magic magnetism of this sun-drenched land and stare, lost in a daydream, at the magnificence of its monuments.

Nowadays Lecce is like an open air stage, showing bas-reliefs, statues of saints, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic caryatids, griffins, winged horses, putti and large flower and fruit trophies. The imagination of the artists who chiseled the facades of the churches and the altars, intended to glorify the abundance of the fruits of the land symbolized by the cornucopia and be a reminder of a prevailingly agricultural society. This baroque is therefore not only a hymn to the Lord to thank Him for His benevolence and grace, but a also a sign of the city itself, full of pride and coquetry.

Whether or not you like the Baroque style, you can’t do without being impressed by the exuberant building styles on display in Lecce, though the fact that they are firmly in the grip of a largely unremarkable modern city, does detract from the enjoyment. Previously prey to opportunist attack, the city began a settled era marked by the defeat of the Turkish fleet at Lepanto in 1571. The subsequent arrival of religious orders (Jesuits, the Teatini and Franciscans) brought much wealth which was reflected in the building of opulent churches and palazzi, and it’s this architectural extravagance that still pervades today’s city. The flowery style of “Barocco Leccese” owed as much to the materials to hand as to the skills of the architects: the soft local sandstone could be intricately carved and then hardened with age. Unfortunately, modern pollution is in danger of ruining many of the buildings, keeping the mass of stonemasons and carpenters who still work in Lecce well occupied.

Itineraries and places of interest

	Start in Piazza Sant’Oronzo, the heart of the old city, named after the first-century bishop of Lecce who went to the lions under Nero. His bronze statue lurches unsteadily from the top of the Colonna di Sant’Oronzo that once stood at the end of the Via Appia in Bríndisi. It resurfaced here in 1666 to honor Oronzo, who was credited with having saved the town from plague ten years earlier.
The south side of the piazza is taken up by the weighty remains of the Anfiteatro Romano, which probably dates back to the time of emperor Hadrian. In its heyday it seated 20,000 spectators, and it’s still used in summer for concerts and plays. Sadly, though, most of its decorative bas-reliefs, of fighting gladiators and wild beasts, have been removed to the town’s museum for safekeeping, and nowadays it looks rather depleted.time of emperor Hadrian. In its heyday it seated 20,000 spectators, and it’s still used in summer for concerts and plays. Sadly, though, most of its decorative bas-reliefs, of fighting gladiators and wild beasts, have been removed to the town’s museum for safekeeping, and nowadays it looks rather depleted.

The best baroque churches are all at short distance from Piazza Sant’Oronzo. The finest, certainly the most sumptuous, is the Basilica of Santa Croce, just to the north, whose florid facade, the work of the local architect Antonio Zimbalo, took around 150 years to complete, its upper half a riot of decorative garlands and flowers around a central rose window. The Church of Santa Chiara, in the opposite direction in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, is a must stop; loaded down with ornament, its interior is full of little chapels groaning with garlands and gilt. There’s more Baroque extravagance on display along Via Vittorio Emanuele, where the Church of Sant’Irene houses the most magnificent Lecce’s Baroque altars - lavishly frosted and gilded, and smothered with decoration. Nearby, facing onto Piazza del Duomo, the Seminario holds an impressively ornate well, carved stone masquerading as delicately wrought iron. Next door, the balconied Palazzo Vescovile adjoins the Duomo itself, twelfth century in origin but rebuilt entirely in the mid-seventeenth century by Zimbalo. He tacked on two ornate facades and an enormous five-level campanile that towers 230 feet above the square. The plain Castello di Carlo V, east of Piazza Sant’Oronzo, is currently under restoration.

There’s further work by Zimbalo in the Church of San Giovanni Battista (or del Rosario), by the Porta Rudiae in the southwest corner of town - the ornate facade and twisting columns fronting some extremely odd altars, dumpy cherubim diving for cover amid scenes resembling an exploding fruit bowl. But if the Baroque trappings of the town are beginning to pall, there’s the odd relic from other eras too, not least a well-preserved Teatro Romano (currently being restored for use as a concert venue) near the church of Santa Chiara, the only one of this kind to be found in Apulia, with its rows of seats and orchestra floor still remarkably intact. There’s also the fine Romanesque church of Santi Nicolò e Cataldo (entrance through the cemetery gate; generally open mornings) built by the Normans in 1190, with a cool interior that reveals a generous hint of Saracen influence in the arches and the octagonal rounded dome. Little remains of the frescoes that once covered its walls, though an image of St Nicolò can be found on the south side, together with a delicately carved portal.

Museums

Museo Archeologico "Sigismondo Castromediano" 
Viale Gallipoli Tel. 0832-247025 
The museum has finds and archaeological treasures from the old Roman town, Rudiae, and other centers in Salento, including decorative panels from the amphitheatre and some religious gold and silver work.
Hours: Mon-Fri from 9:00-13:30 / 14:00-19:00 Admission free

Museo delle Tradizioni popolari "Abbazia di S. Maria a Cerrate" 
Provinciale Squinzano-Casalabate Tel. 0832-361176
Features 14th-century Byzantine frescoes in the abbey, and an interesting reconstruction of rural daily life of the period. 
Hours: Tues-Fri 9:00-13:00 / 14:00-19:30. 
Closed Mon. and holidays Admission free

Museo missionario cinese di storia naturale 
Via Monte S. Michele, 4 Tel. 0832-39 25 80 
This museum houses a Chinese medals case, ivory, bronzes and Oriental furniture. Of particular interest is the Natural History section with artefacts from Formosa. 
Hours: Tues/Thurs/Sat 9:00-12:00 and 17:00-19:00. Admission free

Pinacoteca d’arte Francescana Convento S. Antonio dei Frati Minori (inside Palazzo Fulgenzio della Monica) 
Via Imperatore Adriano, 79 Tel. 0832-31 10 58 
Items on display from the Salento area dating from the 16th to 18th centuries 
Visits by appointment only - Admission free