History

Salento, Puglia lands of the oldest, certainly the most tenaciously rooted in the ancient rhythms of his civilization, a complex spirit world from the beginning, as evidenced by the arcane symbolism geometrical, human and solar, scenes of hunting and daily life of ancient wall paintings found in caves of "Zinzulusa", "Romanelli", the "Horse", Porto Badisco. And 'what once was known as Terra d'Otranto, a unified whole, even if unevenly, culturally and linguistically more greek and Latin, where a few wealthy citizens, such as Otranto, Gallipoli, Nardi, Otranto, stand on a myriad of small towns, in most cases back from the coast constantly threatened. Heart aristocratic button is Lecce, a reality created by the educated elite has been enriched with the earth. In close proximity to the Adriatic Sea, Porto Badisco, a sign has been found important for the history of Salento. Some decades ago, almost by accident, was found a natural cave, the Grotta dei Cervi, karstic had been a haven of prehistoric man in the Salento region during the Neolithic period. Salento is the easternmost region of Italy is a land border. Even its history is one example from the beginning: the story of Salento has always met the East, from the time when legend has it that the Cretans were found in Lecce. And thanks also to the Mediterranean, a sea of ​​extreme importance to the meeting of civilizations, which looked out on it. In the Bronze Age the Salento peninsula was inhabited by Indo-European populations have come down to south through the Alps and continuing along the Adriatic coast. The tens of dolmens and menhirs that are in the Salento is a testimony of this period, although it is only a small part has survived many demolitions. The first to settle in this land, around the fifth century. BC, were the Messapi, devoted to agriculture, horse breeding and processing of ceramics. These people gave a decisive impulse to the birth of the city, which at that time were known for the presence of massive city walls. But already neil'VIII sec. B.C. Greek colonies were founded along the coast cities such as Gallipoli, Otranto, Taranto, which would become the reference points of Magna Graecia, small capitals most prestigious than those of the mother country. In the south of Lecce there is still a kind of "linguistic island" and culture where people still speak greek, indeed, the griko. The area of ​​Salento Greece elienofona includes nine municipalities (Calimera, Castrignano dei Greci, Corigliano d'Otranto, Lecce, Martignano Melpignano, Soleto, Sternatia, Zollino), but once covered the entire range that spans, arch, from Gallipoli to Otranto. In this area there is the imprint of Greek architecture, popular music and gastronomy. The Greek elements, fused with those of Salento, have allowed an independent cultural development, entirely original. After the war, Taranto, Salento became a Roman province from the administrative point of view, but not culturally. The Romans took advantage of its strategic position, branching from the road network from the Urbe, making the terminus of Brindisi and Trajan, and how to build ports in San Cataldo and Roca. The contacts with the Balkan side were intense until the invasions of the Goths, Lombards and Byzantines. The latter exercised their rule for centuries, leaving most indelible imprint in this region than elsewhere. The slow but steady penetration of the Eastern Church it characterizes the religious life, first through the arrival of isolated individuals fleeing from religious persecution or political, with later spread of monasticism, particularly inspired by St. Basil. The Basilian monasteries wherever instituted, the people gathering around them divided between prayer and work in the fields. Another important part is what he sees at the heart of the Salento expansionist Turks. An event involving sadly memorable to Otranto, in 1480 attacked and looted by a powerful fleet commanded by Achmet Pasha, whose resistance was punished by the killing of eight hundred inhabitants. This was an episode that gave the avwio the construction of watchtowers under the Spaniards. Made from 500, under the reign of Charles V, the towers were a coastal warning system that allowed defenses to prepare emergency during raids from the sea. These towers are still visible along much of the coast of Puglia and the Salento, in particular, preserves much of the structure integrates the building. At the same time, Lecce became one of the most beautiful and important city of the period, second only to Naples as the beating heart of cultural and artistic activities, in addition to attracting scholars and nobles, gave impetus to the definition of the Baroque also involving her face the immediate hinterland and a wider arc of radiating grace and harmony but also the explosive force and "bizarre" the new taste. Favored by the soft, ductile limestone Lecce (the "Pietra Leccese"), the Baroque enhances civil and religious buildings. Lecce and Salento all filled with cherubs, griffins, elaborate cornices, balustrades daring, made in marble of the poor. In Greek Salento, Corigliano d'Otranto, Melpignano, Soleto constitute the richest examples of this expression of art. A race to an ever increasing splendor in which he distinguished Pappacoda the bishop, who was responsible for some of the most distinguished buildings. Academies were built during this time and spread the religious orders, promoters of cultural events in step with the times.

The Baroque

The Baroque Lecce born in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. In the period in which the bishops of Lecce, a city-palace, on the model of Papal Rome. The style then takes the form par excellence of Lecce during the Counter Reformation and the founding of new religious orders Reformed (Theatines and Jesuits), which meets the needs of the Church of Rome to regain ground on a large scale, especially through the ostentation of the forms of power. The Baroque Lecce does not incorporate spatial concepts of the revolution which was the basis of Roman Baroque, but is presented more as a Baroque sui generis, so as to be able to use the term only in relation to the exaggerated exuberance of decoration, more who play, mask structures. The complex decoration of the facades of churches and palaces are a spectacular array of surface, made of frames and architraves, and telamones caryatids, trophies of fruit and flowers, cherubs and masks. The fantasy, or rather, the visionary exuberance of stonemasons, was made possible by the use of soft local stone, tufa stone work and easy to carve. Over time, this rock hardens and takes on that particular color is amber which Lecce's fine display in the starry summer nights. Use of this decorative material and construction, which was soaked in whole milk to make it more resistant to weather (especially rain and humidity), the dearth of marble and semiprecious stones that enriched the churches and palaces of the then capital of the Kingdom, Naples. Name all the buildings and monuments that make up the Lecce Baroque is impossible, but can not be ignored by the internationally renowned name a few, the Basilica of Santa Croce, with the adjoining former convent of Celestine and Piazza Duomo, considered among the most ; beautiful in Italy. Basilica of the Holy Cross The facade of the basilica, designed like a giant altar, focused expressions developed by several generations of architects within about one century: Gabriele Riccardi, Cesare Penna in the lower order and at the top, with successive interventions of Francis Anthony and Joseph Zimbalo. Riccardi, in 1582, gives a strong sense of perspective in the order below, highlighted by a rich entablature. Of this element are setting a balcony supported by brackets symbolize paganism-caryatids crushed by the force of Christian belief. The second order of the facade is due to the intervention, in the seventeenth century, Cesare Penna and Giuseppe Zimbalo, architect hegemon in Salento after providing proof of its capacity in the arrangement of the courtyard of the Bishop, the current Piazza Duomo, reorganized to will and on the recommendation of the powerful bishop of Naples Pappacoda. The upper part of the church is, in its entirety, the symbol of Baroque Lecce; triumphs of fruits and flowers, garlands and putti hold the gaze, provoking continuous surprises and wonder in the observer. Former Convent of the Celestine The former convent of the Celestine Zimbalo sees the intervention of another great architect and Lecce, Giuseppe Cino, who will also intervene in the palace of the Seminar Piazza Duomo. The architectural complex of the church and the convent is the highest moment of singular artistic career Salento, just when it moves away from subjection to the Spanish culture and affirms a personal brand of style, date from the elaboration of secular influences are stratified in these areas. Piazza Duomo The courtyard of the Bishop is a sudden surprise that opens the eyes of the observer. Built in the twelfth century., The narrow courtyard became the most famous test of the seventeenth century talents Lecce. When the powerful bishop and his successors did Pappacoda of Lecce, a small palace, a symbol of prestige, a city in the uniform lifestyle of the bishops, as to be known as the "city of churches". The decorative motifs, the exuberance of swags and garlands of flowers and fruit, Greek and coats, suit the interior decoration, but that's why so many squares Lecce appear almost as open-air lounges. The local stone color and assumes clear-scurali games that vary by day of light and Piazza Duomo "blind" with its golden glow, enchanted evening with the warmth that is spectacular and the contrast between the amber color of the buildings silky and blue of the summer nights. St. Matthew A contrast of lines between the two floors of the facade, which has convex and concave entrance upstairs, characterizes the church of St. Matthew, the only example of Roman Baroque style concave-convex adopted by Francesco Borromini in the Roman church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. The architect Achille Larducci, came from outside, only had time to build this church as it was in Lecce killed herself and her class came to an end. The story is tinged with strong symbolic connotations, and the only architect (a foreigner) can challenge the Baroque Lecce, affecting it with lessons come from "outside", is just tragic end in Lecce.