Located just outside the town of Presicce, on the road linking the town of Taurisano to the locality of Pozzomauro, is the crypt of San Mauro right around the chapel of S. Maria del Rito, a small rural church of Basilian origin. Only few ruins remain from both of the crypt and the church that, however, are worth visiting for the frescoes that decorate them, dating between the 13th and 14th centuries. The crypt is divided into two naves; however, to date it is only possible to see fragments of paintings, probably of saints including St. Catherine of Alexandria and a scene of the Annunciation in the right nave. Originally, the crypt interacted with an underground oil mill, of which some mangers, a tank and the area devoted to grinding are still present. Near the crypt is the church of ...

The Laura of Presicce is poorly preserved but like the others in southern Salento, it had to be composed of cells found in small crumblier rock-cut caves which was accessible from above through a cavity. Inside there was the "giacitoio", where the monks rested, and the crypt with frescoed wall designated for the celebration of the mass. ...

The complex of Santa Maria di Leuca of Belvedere, also known locally as Leuca Piccola, is an articulate religious structure built in the site of a preexisting church in 1685 by Baron Don Annibale Capece.   The existing church is equipped with an impressive pronaos, consisting of a monumental body with large arches that leads directly into the small church, with a sacristy at the back.   The interior is decorated with seventeenth-eighteenth century frescoes depicting Saint Lazarus, Saint Lucia, St. Horace, Santa Barbara, Santa Marina, St. Francis of Paola, St. Paschal Baylon, San Gennaro and San Leonardo.  On the vault, the four Evangelists (St. Matthew, St. Luke, St. Mark and St. John) are painted, linked by the initials JHS (Jesus Saviour of the World).   Through ...

The abbey is an ancient monastery complex of the IX century, later incorporated within a fortified farm complex. Only ruins and parts of walls remained of the original structure. The highly preserved part is the dovecote tower, located at a short distance from the abbey and still in the countryside. ...

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 ...