Located on the highest point of the Serra of Pozzomauro, or the Pozzo Magno, from the homonymous medieval house destroyed, according to tradition, by a Saracen attack in the fifteenth century; the specchia seems to still want to play its role as a lookout of the territory although only a few ruins survived from its original structure. ...
The specchia is a real monument that, with its length of 60 meters, it is among the most impressive prehistoric monuments of the Mediterranean. Below the usual accumulation of calcareous stones that distinguish these archaeological evidences, several tombs are preserved, with equipments which allowed the definition of their chronological context. The structural characteristics of the tombs permit to comprehend the degree of expertise and sophistication achieved by this civilization: these graves with units in lithic slabs in which the interred was placed with her trousseau ( a pottery typical of the Bronze Age, or jugs and bowls of various sizes). The size of the units and the presence of access corridors permit to define what real "burial chambers" are. An important ...
The mound #7, rediscovered in an area that includes at least another hundred burial mounds, between the coasts of Pescoluse and Torre Pali, is an important archaeological discovery. It looks like a pile of stones on an area of 200 square meters in a trapezoidal plan. On the east side is a stone cist of a rectangular form that, in the moment of discovery, showed three vessels with incineration. A thick layer of ground separated these three burials from at least 50 other entombed individuals. In the area overlooking the stone cist, burned stones were found, all referable to a small altar where fire was ignited for ritual purposes. The monument seems bordered on the south side by a sort of wall consisted of an oblique row of large boulders about 14 m long and interrupted by the road. ...
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 Grotta Montani, located on the Spigolizzi hill, is characterized by two adjacent niches, one is completely closed by stones and the other is open through a small and low tunnel. It is a karst complex, which opens on an ancient shoreline, originally more vast and articulated than how it is presented today. It has a central room, from which four long and narrow tunnels diffuse. Found inside the cave were numerous objects, in flint and local limestone, used by the Neanderthal Man associated with the remains of elephants, rhinoceroses, hyenas, and wild boars. ...
The Grotta Febbraro, identified originally as Speculizzi III, at 72 meters above sea level, is constituted by a single corridor provided with an avangrotta or a cavern, for a total length of about 15 meters, a width of 3 meters and a height of 2 meters. The actual opening is slightly interned from its original location in a paleo cliff formed during the Upper Cretaceous period about 66 million years ago. The Grotta Marzo, identified as Speculizzi IV, situated at 74 meters above sea level, presents a rather small opening, protected by abundant vegetation. Some remains were found inside it such as: post-medieval pottery, animal bones that are relatively recent, and the remains of a dry stone wall that separates the main corridor, approximately 12 meters long, from a second passage ...
The Pivataro menhir is located on the outskirts of Tutino, in the middle of a road intersection. It stands on a high, stone-coated, circular base. Two overlapping fragments remained from the menhir, roughly repaired in the late 90's and marked by a visible score line. The total height is approximately 1.20 m. There is a cross engraved on both of its east and west sides. ...
Taking the Strada comunale Macchia di Ponente, incorporated into a recently built wall , is a menhir named after Principano, which is an ancient medieval farmhouse previously situated in this area. The structure, of a parallelepiped shape, with a height of about 1.90 m and a section of 0.65x0.40 m, presents numerous crosses engraved on the front. The menhir is probably a part of a megalith of larger dimensions, not placed in its original position. It is one of the many megaliths of Salento of the pre-Roman times, then Christianized through the incision of crosses. ...
The Cipolliane caves are of three divisions that open onto the cliff facing east, along the path between the Novaglie coast and on the area of the Ciolo canal. The caves, now about 30 meters above sea level, was once touched by the sea, as evidenced by the presence of shells, scallops and bivalve mollusks that cover the surface of the caves, caused by the erosive power of the ramming sea of Terziario. ...
The menhir, located at the intersection of three roads, is a stone structure of 170 cm high and a section of 70x50 cm. The megalith is situated at the end of a dry stone wall, in which a small chapel that gave it its name appears incorporated to it. The top of the menhir appears tapered to accommodate a stone base, probably a space designated for a cross. The small chapel of the Spirito Santo, built in the seventeenth century, has a quadrangular structure with a simple facade and inside are two paintings depicting the Virgin Mary and St. Rocco. ...
The menhir della Croce, already cataloged by Cosimo De Giorgi at the beginning of 20th century, has been repeatedly demolished and replaced but is probably in its original position at the intersection of several roads, now protected by a stone fence . It has a height of about 1.5 m and has three engraved crosses on the east side, while the other two are located on the west side. One of the crosses is hooked, the so-called Jerusalem cross. ...