The Castles

No less than twenty castles make of the Salento a veritable mighty fortress, a rock-like bastion, together with the coastal towers and the inland fortified farms, they stood up to the hundreds of invasions which during the centuries made of this region a conquered land for Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonese, Spanish, Venetians and Saracens.The actual geography of the most of the  castles in Salento dates back to the Renaissance (15^th  and 16^th  centuries), even if the new buildings incorporate the former structures, as for example in the cases of the castles in Copertino, Gallipoli, Otranto, Acquarica del Capo, Presicce, Morciano di Leuca and Roca Vecchia.
 The castle of Carlo V in Lecce is emblematic (built between 1539 and 1549), as in the case of the fortified town of Acaja with its moat and bastions,(in the Vernole zone), just a few kilometres away from the Salentine chief town, Lecce. We are confronted by two of the finest examples of the Renaissance military architecture, not only of the Salento area but of the entire national territory, which is the work of the great architect Gian Giacomo of Acaja, dear to the heart of the emperor Carlo V. Recently the castle in Lecce has resumed its most natural function of being a cultural centre, that many provinces envy to the Salentine chief town.

A particular mention for the castle in Corigliano d’Otranto, which is a superb synthesis of military practicality and artistic beauty. It is the most decoratively rich in the region and among the most visited and admired castles in the South of Italy.

The Fortified farms

Fortified buildings are more common in the south of the peninsula, which was formerly a Christian outpost against the infidels: some superb military works are preserved in Salve (which in 1537 was subject to the strong attacks by Algerian Corsairs), Morciano di Leuca (Castromediano Castle), Giuliano and Salignano (Castrignano del Capo), Alessano (fortified residence of the Gonzaga family), Acquarica del Capo, with a Sforzesco castle of the 15^th  century, Scorrano, Taurisano, Tricase, with the impressive fourteenth century Palazzo Gallone, similar in style with the intact 13^th  century castle in Depressa and the 14th century castles of Trane di Tutino, Racale, Parabita, Palmariggi. Otranto, with the splendour of its castle and of the Alfonsine tower, which once was the scenario of desperate resistances, the castle of the Acquavivas in Nardò, Gallipoli (including the Byzantine and Angevin fortifications, with the Rivellino of 1522 and mighty bastions), Galatone, Copertino (which has a mighty 15^th  century castle, adorned with a triumphal arch and with an annexed Paleochristian crypt), and in the end Castro, with its castle built on the remains of the ancient Roman citadel overlooking  the Otranto canal and watching over the sea.

 The Towers

Similar to the destiny of the castles is the story of the coastal towers and of the numerous fortified farms in Terra d’Otranto, the first ones are spread in an ideal chain as sentinels along the Ionian and Adriatic coastlines to sight the Saracen ships, the second ones were strategically placed in the Lecce, Nardò and Ugento areas, they were protagonists in the 15^th  and 16^th  centuries of heroic deeds (the struggles against the Turkish invasion and against brigands, the struggle of the land-owning class against the threats of the population, the struggle of the farmer for its physical survival).The watch- and control towers, built in the late 16th century (the tower in Leverano is oldest dating back to the 13^th  century, as you can see in Lecce, the cylindrical tower of Belloluogo and Parco dating back respectively to the 14^th  and 15^th  century), are  in their severe austerity some veritable jewels of military architecture and greatly connote the Salentine coast. A tourist can come across them everywhere, and it is always a nice surprise to see them with the light behind, when the sun sets on the sea.  They are a symbol of history of this area, telling about pirates, wars, betrayals and defeats. Many towers stands out majestically on the Adriatic coast: from Torre (tower) Specchiolla and to Torre Rinalda, from Torre Chianca to the remains of Torre Veneri, from Torre Specchia Ruggeri (in Vernole) to San Foca and Torre dell’Orso, from Torre Santo Stefano to Torre del Serpe, both in the Otranto area, from Torre Sant’Emiliano to Torre di Minervino (overlooking the Porto Badisco inlet), from the towers of Diso, Andrano, Tricase, Tiggiano, Alessano to the tower of Omo Morto (Dead man), surviving dauntless in Leuca, going on with the Ionian towers, from Torre Vado, overlooking the port, Torre Pali almost drowned in the sea, Torre Mozza and San Giovanni (Ugento), Torre Suda (Racale), Torre Sabea in Gallipoli, the spectacular Torre delle Quattro Colonne (four- columned Tower) and the solemn Torre dell’Alto in Nardò, retreated on an enchanting promontory where you can look down the coast until it disappears in the distance, ending with Torre Sant’Isidoro and Torre Squillace, and  the northern towers of Porto Cesareo.

 Completing the architectural outline of the Salento area,  the remains tha bear witness to the rustic civilisation must not be forgotten,as the buildings known everywhere as «paiare».

 The «trulli» are scattered all around the countryside,used for many centuries as shelter for shepherds or farmworkers, they were the very first work of anthropography in rural spaces.

The civilisation of the white

These white stones, together with other original constructions such as ovens, underground oil-presses of Vernole, Sternatia, Copertino, Cutrofiano, Morciano di Leuca, Gallipoli and Galatina, the dove towers, the «neviere» or stone huts of Lecce, Trepuzzi, Calimera, Acaja, Messapian vases, cisterns, the pointed trulli of Specchia, Otranto and Borgagne, the barns of Calimera and Martano, the shelters with steps in Capo di Leuca, the apiaries, the fanciful artesian wells and the thousands of seasonal shelters made from stone and scattered in every corner of the province create a  so-called white civilisation, which is the only true definitive worldwide famous element of the Salento. The use of the white, which is a Greek and Mediterranean heritage, which in its stones (from primordial to religious, civil and military architecture) finds in the stones its astonishing and alive  interpretation.