The Sanctuary of San Rocco presents itself as a simple and linear structure characterized externally by a central door, framed between two empty niches, and two side doors. At the very top of the edifice is a cross. The interior is characterized by the main altar adorned with a large painting by Giovanni Grassi, dated 1851, depicting the Miracle Worker of plague victims, on which a Latin inscription reads: “D.O.M. DIVO ROCCO SACELLUM HOC ANTIQUA IVIUM PIETAS RECENS FIDELI M. DEVOTIO ... TESTIS FAEC. E. M. DIGIORUM OCCASIONE MOTA EREXIT UNA AMPLIA VIT ALTERA A.D. MDCCXXXVIII.” Located on either side of the altar are statues of St. Oronzo, on the left, and St. Sebastian, on the right. We know, in fact, that the worship of St. Rocco is attested  in Torrepaduli since 1531, in a ...

Padula Mancina is a swampy and marshy zone on the west of Montesano Salentino, in the direction of Ruffano, which is now a remnant of a larger and largely reclaimed wetland. It consists of a pond with a surface area of ​​2.5 hectares. The area is prone to periodic flooding due to the collection of rainwater that from here conveys through certain canals and results as a of particular natural interest. Recent surveys have allowed a census of the fauna and flora species existing in the area. The flora is mainly composed of marsh reeds (Arundo donax, Phragmites australis) along with the white morning glory (Calystegia sepium), the lisca lacustre (Schoenoplectus lacustris), the water iris and Typha (Typha latifolia). There are also the Mediterranean shrubs and a species of fern, Marsilea ...

The Palazzo Baronale is an impressive architectural complex of great interest; was built in the late seventeenth century, next to the remains of the sixteenth century castle of which remains a square tower with loopholes and machicolations. It presents an austere facade with round portal bearing the coat of arms of the feudal family and windows distributed in the higher order different from the lower by a string course cornice. ...

Known as the Madonna della Serra, the church dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, was elevated into a Sanctuary in 1951. The edifice dates back to the sixteenth century, a period of frequent Saracens attacks on the Salentine coasts. For this reason, the church presents externally as a watchtower and is characterized by the typical elements of the fortified structures; at the doors and windows are machicolations positioned for defensive purposes. The interior consists of a ceramic majolica pavement and an altar in Leccese stone surmounted by the painting of the Madonna and Child. On the side is the statue of the Madonna della Serra, periodically carried in procession, and a sixteenth-century fresco depicting the Madonna del Latte. The image, rebuilt in the eighteenth century, depicts ...

Situated on the corner of Via Roma and Corso Umberto I, in front of the Chiesa Matrice della Trasfigurazione, the underground oil mill, owned by Evangelista Di Seclì, is located 8 meters deep and is attached to the eighteenth-century Palazzo Colonna. The underground oil mill still retains some of the original structures and furnishings: a huge millstone, some mangers and beddings where the millers- men who left their families and living for 5-6 months period of oil production activities  inside the mill without getting out and getting the chance to see the sunlight-rested. ...

Dating back to 9th century AD, the crypt, located under the chapel of the same name dating back to the 14th century, is situated in the former granary of dei Carmelitani. It consists of a quadrangular room with fresco of Santa Marina of 1400 in the niche opposite the entrance. On all the walls are notable traces of color of ancient frescoes, now permanently lost. On the left of the entrance insist two small rooms, one of which is completely painted with images typical of Byzantine iconography: Saint Catherine of Alexandria, St. Nicholas represented according to oriental iconographic standards, an anonymous saint who is holding a cachet, and lastly Archangel Gabriel. The crypt is of considerable importance due to the presence of the “Dormitio Virginis” of the twelfth century: the ...

The architectural structure of Palazzo Bitonti is composed of an "old" part dating from the seventeenth century and “new” parts that were built later, but in an unknown time since the documents were lost. The palace is in line with the domestic chapel dedicated to Madonna della Consolazione and to San Giuseppe, which is the chapel wanted by the archpriest Don Gaetano Bitonti. The edifice has two floors with a letter “U” floor plan, following a design diffused in the province, with the rooms on the lower level intended for services and those of the upper floor intended as noble residence. The ground floor is accessible through a single entrance leading into a large atrium with barrel vault that precedes an open court separated by elegant pillars made of Leccese ...

The forest of Cardigliano is a SIC area of 54h located in the Municipality of Specchia at an altitude of about 165 meters above sea level. The forest is characterized by the presence of dense undergrowth consisting of arbutus and rare species of wild orchids. It presents impressive examples of thorny oak (Quercus spinosa), Kermes Oak (Quercus coccifera), Oleandro (Nerium oleander), Mastic (Pistacia lentiscus), Myrtle (Myrtus), and Alaterna (Rhamnus alaternus) and common Ginestrella (Osyris alba). Among the Mediterranean species, you will recognize the Ruscolo pungitopo (Ruscus hypoglossum L.), the pungent Asparago (Asparagus acutifolius), the Robbia selvatica (Rubia peregrina), the Neapolitan Cyclamen and Mediterranean Carex (Cyperaceae).   ...

Among the surviving elements of the thirteenth-century castle, the Romanesque arch is recognizable, created with Leccese stone, guilloche and decorated with acanthus leaves, plants and animals mounted on the facade of the western side. The tower, built in the mid-sixteenth century by the feudal lords Gattinara Lignani, functioned as defense from the Turks, has small windows with acute arches and a protruding parapet on quatrefoil corbels and culminated with a Guelphic battlement. The main façade, which looks out on Piazza Castello, is embellished with portals with bas-reliefs depicting late baroque floral subjects, the Cross of the Order of the Knights of Malta and the coats of arms of some feudal families of Taurisano. The interiors are fully decorated with distemper. ...

The façade of the church is characterized by a portal framed between two columns surmounted by capitals, which support two squatting animals, a lion and a bull, from which are grafted cusps creating a kind of portico. The portal consists of three carved concentric bands, interlacing the geometric and plant motifs, which enclose the architrave where the Annunciation is represented: the scene is framed between two columns where two rampant birds (peacocks), archangel Gabriele (left) and the figure of the Virgin seated on a throne (right) are juxtaposed; the angelic salutation is engraved in Greek between the figures. At the center, the rose window has three carved concentric crowns. The inner band is made with intertwining plants, among which you can see small figures of ...

The Grotta della Trinità o dell'Eternità is located on the northwest of Serra that joins Casarano and Ruffano. The cave is privately owned and damaged by human intervention. It has a depth of more than 30 m, an irregularly triangular plan, a high vault and wide arc mouth facing west that light the surroundings especially during the afternoon. Some walls in proximity of the cave’s mouth are related to recent adjustments. ...

The Cripta dell'Eternità o della Trinità is located on the northwest of Serra conjoining Casarano in Ruffano. The crypt occupies the space of the Trinity or Eternity cave, privately owned and more than 30 m deep. The crypt has an irregularly triangular plan, with high vault and a wide arc opening facing west. ...

The Natural Park of Bosco Occhiazzi extends for about two hectares in the countryside of Ruffano, near the Serra leading to Casarano. The natural reserve is characterized by vegetation consisting mainly of Mediterranean shrubs and still conserves the typical flora and fauna of the zone in an ecosystem that survived an extensive type of cultivation and almost entirely preserved up to this day. Since 2008, it is possible to visit the park and enjoy nature using the specially designed trails, along natural tracks that cover the entire forest formed by the passage of humans and animals. The vegetation of the park includes numerous olive trees and many species typical of the Mediterranean shrubs, such as brooms, myrtle, rockrose and wild orchids. Many species of insects, amphibians, ...

The tower dates back to the sixteenth century, a period of frequent Saracen attacks at the coasts of Salento. For this reason, the structure is characterized by the typical elements of the fortified structures; at the doors and windows are machicolations positioned for defensive purposes. ...

The Ruffano Castle, situated at the highest point of the village, was built in 1626 by Rinaldo Brancaccio on a preexisting medieval fortress. The building is devoid of a defense apparatus, mostly reflecting the architectural standards of a large baronial palace built as a mansion. To characterize the structure is the beautiful lodge, built after Carlo Brancaccio’s desire in the second half of 1600, which connects the baronial palace to the Mother Church; thanks to the "Loggia Brancaccio" the noblemen could attend religious services through a special window that gazed directly inside the sacred edifice. In the early years of the 19th century, Nicola Ferrante, as what Carlo Brancaccio did to the Piazza del Popolo, enriched the front of the castle in Piazza San Francesco with the ...

The Parco Comunale di Miggiano  occupies a woody area of over one hectare. It is a site of particular natural interest and consists of a dense vegetation of oaks. ...

The Palmenti or millstones, only one of its kind, constitute historical and cultural patrimony of inestimable value. They consist of 8 stone tubs in which grapes were treaded and the juice was collected in cisterns. On the back insists a winepress of private property. ...

The Mother Church, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, presents a plain façade divided into three parts by tall pilasters. The central part is enriched by an elegant Baroque doorway surmounted by a stone statue of the Virgin. Above the portal are an inscription and a window lyre, which is next to a clock. The aspect ends with a curved pediment, at the sides of which stand two belfries. The interior, with three naves, houses some of the altars with paintings such as the Immaculate, an opera recently attributed to the painter Aniello Letizia. The seventeenth-century wooden statue of the Venetian Saint Donato, patron saint of the town, is of particular interest. ...

The Calvary of Montesano Salentino is a wide and deep apsidal shrine protected by an enclosure topped with six spire pinnacles. The structure is marked laterally by pairs of pilasters that house the paintings of two thieves; at its peak are towering spire pinnacles flanked by two pairs of terracotta chalices. The apsidal area is occupied by five paintings by the artist Giuseppe Bottazzi (1821 - 1890) of Diso illustrating, as in other calvaries made by him, the images of the Passion of Jesus Christ. At the center stands the Crucifixion with the Virgin, St. John and Mary Magdalene, while the sides of this representation are the Prayer in the Garden, the Flagellation, the Departure to Calvary and the Crowning of Thorns. At the base of the five representations is the scene of the Pieta with ...

The Chapel of Our Lady of Itri presents a simple neoclassical facade consisting of a portal with tympanum and central two-mullioned window. The interior has a single room with an altar in Leccese stone, behind which a small door allows access to the Byzantine church, with a rectangular plan, dedicated to St. Nicholas. The church, entirely frescoed, presents six overlapping phases on the walls from which it is possible to gather information about the style and the different periods in which the frescoes were made. At the foot of the east wall is a depiction of Our Lady of Itri. A small Baroque altar, of the 17th century, holds the statues of Mary, of an unknown saint, probably St. Irene, and of St. Marina. At its left is a niche that was intended as prosthesis, the altar of the Orthodox ...

The Church of Madonna degli Angeli was built in 1902. The edifice, located in the countryside between San Cassiano and Nociglia, was erected on the grounds of a small, eleventh-century church. ...

The church presents a mono-apex façade, framed between two pilasters, following the Neoclassical style. On the portal is an ovoid-shaped niche in which the image of St. Stephen kneeling is painted, with his white tunic and a cross-signed diaconal, on a Palestinian landscape background. Standing arrear is the square bell tower of 1892, on top of which is a statue of the saint. The most notable surviving element of the medieval chapel is the central part of the façade; it was saved because, in subsequent reconstructions and renovations, it had been first used as posterior wall then as a dividing wall between the space behind the altar and the room for the sacristy in the current building. The interior, with a single nave, contains a wooden statue of St. Stephen ...

From the original structure, the same G.C. Vanini described in his work "De admirandis", and where the philosopher spent his teenage years, only the central body remained. Numerous changes were made over the centuries to the original structure. The house consists of an entrance hall with a ribbed vault, which is accessible through a rusticated portal in carparo and embellished with geometric and floral motifs. The atrium leads to the internal rooms, positioned on either side of the entrance, with barrel vaults or edged-Leccese stone vaults. From a staircase set in the rooms, on the left of the entrance hall, is the terrace and the first floor. Annexed to the house was the family chapel, dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua, removed in nineteenth century. On either side of the main ...

The façade is framed between two bell towers and extends into two articulate arrays of pilasters. Placed on the architrave of the front door is the coat of arms of Taurisano: a bull in the hills. The interior, with a Latin cross outline and a single nave, has a ribbed vault entirely frescoed with festoons and arabesques. The nave and transept are embellished by altars dedicated to Saint Lucia, St. Anthony of Padua, to the Souls in Purgatory, St. Vito, the Mercy, the Holy Family, St. Stephen the protomartyr and to Our Lady of the Rosary. These were built between 1838 and 1840, except for the altars of St. Anthony of Padua, erected in 1815, and of Our Lady of the Rosary in 1885. Almost all of the frescoes came from the ancient parish and date back to the seventeenth century and the ...

The "Paduli” itinerary covers a route that winds along the six towns of Salento, starting from Nociglia, the municipality on the north, to arrive in Montesano Salentino, Miggiano, Taurisano, Ruffano and Specchia. It is a route that connects natural places, in fact swampy, and places of great religious significance. The area of ​​Paduli is a particular olive-planted Salentine countryside whose name came from the frequent and prevalent phenomena of flooding. In the countryside of Montesano Salentino, the area known as Padula Mancina is indeed a marshy area which is a remnant of a vast marshy area that is largely reclaimed in the present time. The itinerary, designed as a "slow" route to be carried out almost entirely on foot or by means of slow transportation, also ...