Castellana Grotte

Castellana Grotte is a city in the province of Bari which owes its name to the presence of the fascinating caves. They are visited by many tourists every year that are enchanted by their beauty and peculiarity. However, the city is full of many other places to visit, experiences to have and typical products to taste.

What to see in Castellana Grotte

The historic center of Castellana Grotte is characterized by small and cute streets full of important buildings. To mention a few: the Old Town Hall, the former Convent of San Francesco and the church of San Leone Magno. In this Church the statues of Leo the Great, John the Baptist and that of the Madonna Consolatrice are kept.

Another sanctuary not to be missed is that of Maria SS. della Vetrana, built in 1691 in honor of the Madonna who freed the town from the plague or, again, the Church of San Francesco d’Assisi, built in 1651, in a late Renaissance style where you can admire the seven altars in local stone. Finally, a short distance from the city, the Church of Caroseno, Church of Santa Maria del Suffragio and Church of San Nicola di Genna.

Not only history, art and culture but also fun for adults and children in the Indiana adventure park which offers safe acrobatic courses for all the adventurous or, again, the Dinosaur Park, an open-air museum in which dinosaurs have been reproduced at natural size. Another museum is the Franco Anelli Speleological Museum, dedicated to the man who discovered the city’s famous caves (together with the speleologist Vito Matarrese) and the Sirio Astronomical Observatory.

The famous caves of Castellana

The Castellana Grotte were discovered in 1938 and are one of the major representations of the karst phenomenon in Puglia. They are located about 2 kilometers from the town center and extend for about 3 kilometres. They can be visited by following two types of routes, one of which is shorter, about 1,5km and the other about 3km.

Once you enter the caves, you find a chasm of about sixty meters called the Grave from which you can access the numerous caves, canyons, stalactites, stalagmites, which you can admire during your tour. They are all called with fascinating names to recall a particular shape or a legend. Some of them are the Owl Cave, the Serpent Corridor, the Precipice Cave, the Black Cave and many others.

What to eat in Castellana Grotte

The charm of Castellana Grotte does not stop at the magic of the caves and the artistic and cultural heritage but also at a cuisine rich in typical products all to be enjoyed in refined dishes or in the Apulian culinary tradition. The imprint of the cuisine of Castellana Grotte is typical of the province of Bari in which mussels prevail, to be enjoyed marinara style or fried or meat such as braciole (a thin, seasoned and rolled meat).

Also worth trying are the simple and genuine dishes of the peasant tradition such as broad beans and chicory or baked lampascioni. Pettole are also typical, made with flour, yeast, water and salt, left to rise for at least two hours. They are stuffed with capers, cherry tomatoes, olives, chilli pepper and onion and fried in boiling oil in the form of balls.

How to get to Castellana Grotte

It is possible to reach Castellana Grotte by any means of transport:

• by plane, the closest airport is Bari (about 36 km away), from which it will be possible to either rent a car or, after arriving at Bari station, take a train or bus to reach the city or rent a car.

• By train, once you reach Bari station, simply take the train via Conversano-Castellana of the Ferrovie Sud-Est.

• By bus, again from Bari, it will be very simple to reach the city with the means of the South-East Railways.

• By car, for those coming from Bologna-Ancona, you will need to take the A14; from Florence-Rome the A1 and from Naples, the A16. Then, exit at Bari Nord and then continue along the SS16 until the Conversano-Cozze exit, finally take the SS634.

Anyone who finds themselves visiting the Itria Valley cannot miss what is considered one of the most beautiful medieval villages in Italy: Cisternino. A set of white houses, alleys and small squares that recall times gone by, but also architectural works and churches to admire during your walks around the town.

What to see in Cisternino

Walking around the beautiful Cisternino you come across Piazza Garibaldi and, in particular, the Villa Comunale and the Torre Grande, a quadrangular structure from the Norman and Frederick era, an ancient lookout point from which you can enjoy a beautiful panorama (the Belvedere). Near these buildings there is Porta Grande, a gate that leads to the historic center and the Mother Church, in honor of San Nicola, from the Romanesque era, inside which a Renaissance work is preserved, the Madonna with child, created by Stefano di Putignano in 1517.

The peculiarity of Cisternino is that every alley and street has something to tell: during your walk you will certainly come across Via Santa Maria di Costantinopoli where it will be possible to admire the panel painting “Madonna of the carpenter” and a remainder of a fresco portraying the Virgin. The typical architecture of the houses is fascinating: small white buildings huddled together, particular for their balconies or stone masks. However, there is no shortage of more important palaces such as that of the Governor, Palazzo Cenci, Palazzo Lagravinese and Palazzo Pepe. Even the main street, Corso Umberto I, is characterized by a group of white houses, each beautiful in some small detail: all to be admired and photographed as they are enriched with decorations and flowers.

Cisternino is not only beautiful to visit during the day but also in the evening, especially in summer when, in the alleys of the historic center or in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, the clubs are full of people sipping cocktails or having fun with live music and DJs set.

The traditions of Cisternino

Just outside the town there is the Sanctuary of the Madonna d’Ibernia, where Easter Monday is celebrated: during this holiday, the people of the town go to the Sanctuary with a typical dessert called “u churruchele“, a symbol of prosperity , made in the shape of a bag with two boiled eggs for boys and in the shape of a doll with a boiled egg for girls.

Another very heartfelt festival is the one in honor of Sant’Antonio, whose celebrations begin on January 17th or, again, the patronal festival in honor of the patron saints Quirico and Giulitta, on the first Sunday of August when processions, concerts and fireworks. Finally, not far from Cisternino, in the Caranna area, the Orecchiette Festival is held which attracts the locals to get together with dancing, popular music and good food.

What to eat

Cisternino is a lovely little village where you can still breathe the familiar air of the past: you can in fact taste excellent typical products or traditional dishes in characteristic farms or welcoming taverns and restaurants. Among the typical products to taste, an undisputed protagonist is meat: beef sausages, bombette (pork meat rolls filled with canestrato cheese, salt and pepper) and gnummeredde (based on lamb offal). These products can be enjoyed in the typical butchers-restaurants of the historic center, the famous “ready-to-eat stoves” where you can choose the cut of meat you prefer and enjoy it directly at the tables in front of the butcher’s shop, accompanied by an excellent glass of wine. Another unmissable dish typical of the Apulian tradition is orecchiette with turnip greens or with sauce and pecorino or broad beans and chicory. Again, a typical snack is friselle, often seasoned with tomatoes, oil, salt and oregano.

Cisternino’s desserts are also an absolute must-try, especially if you are a lover of almonds, one of the fixed ingredients in these preparations: sugar almonds (menule atterrete), i.e. toasted almonds sprinkled with sugar; castagnelle, small loaves made with flour, eggs, sugar, almonds, cinnamon and cloves or, again, the variant with the addition of black cherry called castagnama. Another dessert is the Santantonio, a rectangular biscuit prepared with flour, eggs, sugar and almonds, excellent to accompany coffee or tea. Other typical dairy biscuits, Rombò, are those made with flour, eggs, sugar, hazelnuts and milk, also excellent at the end of a meal to accompany a glass of rum.

How to reach Cisternino

Cisternino is located in the Itria Valley and it is possible to get there:

• by plane, the closest airport is Brindisi (50 km) or Bari (80 km), from which it will then be necessary to take a rental car or a transfer to reach Cisternino.
• by train. Coming from the North the fastest solution is to take a Regional train from Bari. Alternatively there are other solutions from Brindisi, Ostuni, Polignano a Mare etc, we therefore recommend consulting the Trenitalia website.
• by car, for those coming from the North you need to exit at Bari Nord, then continue on the SS16 towards Brindisi and then follow the signs for Cisternino to get onto the SS379. For those coming from the South, however, the motorway exit is Brindisi-Lecce, so it will be necessary to follow the signs for SS16 towards Bari and then those for Cisternino.

Puglia, in addition to being a wonderful region, visited every year by thousands of tourists, is also the land that gave birth to many artists, including comedians who have become famous throughout Italy (and also in the rest of the world) . In this article we will tell you about some of the most famous Apulian comedians who have made the history of Italian television and cinema and beyond.

Checco Zalone

Checco Zalone, pseudonym of Luca Medici, is perhaps one of the most famous and loved Apulian actors and comedians. Every time his films come out at the cinema, they are a guaranteed success: 4 of his films even appear in the list of the 10 highest grossing films in Italy.

Born in Capurso, in the province of Bari, Zalone graduated in law and in 2005 performed on the stage of Zelig Off and subsequently of Zelig Circus, thus achieving popularity with his parodies of the most famous Italian and foreign songs.

In May 2009, filming began on his first film, “Cado dalle nubi”, a huge success, followed by “Che bella giornata” in 2011, “Sole a catinelle” in 2013, “Quo Vado?” of 2016 and “Tolo Tolo” of 2020: films in which the great social issues (homosexuality, emigration, racism, integration) are treated in a light and ironic way, to make people reflect with a smile.

Lino Banfi

Among the most famous Apulian comedians we cannot fail to mention Lino Banfi, a true institution of Puglia, known throughout Italy.

Born as Pasquale Zagaria in Andria, the general public was able to appreciate Lino Banfi more recently for his interpretations of grandfather Libero in “Un Medico in famiglia” (a role he held from 1998 to 2016), in the role of Commissioner Zagaria and the ‘coach Oronzo Canà (from the 80s). But his career began many years earlier in the Italian sexy comedy, with immortal films from the 60s and 70s that can still make us laugh today.

A humble and good character, loved by adults and children, who in 2019 also became a member of the Italian commission at UNESCO.

Pio and Amedeo

Two other very famous and much loved Apulian comedians arrive directly from Foggia: Pio and Amedeo. The duo, fresh from the great success of the television show “Felicissima sera”, broadcast on Canale 5 in recent months, has many participations in successful programs and shows in their CV.

Their satire and their jokes (even a little racy and pretentious) draw laughter from audiences all over Italy, who have learned to appreciate them first as correspondents for “Le Iene“, then in “Emigratis” and later also during the evening show of “Amici” by Maria de Filippi.

Their debut at the cinema, with the film “Amici come noi” in 2014, was a huge success at the box office.

Pino Campagna

Also from Foggia comes another famous Apulian comedian: Pino Campagna, known to the general public above all for the catchphrase “Papi, ci sei? Ce la fai? Sei connesso?” of his most famous character, the Papy Ultras.

He began his career as a folk singer in the 80s but then approached the world of cabaret, becoming known to the general public first with his participation in “La sai l’ultima?” and then to “Zelig Circus” from 2003 onwards.

Uccio de Santis

Uccio de Santis is a famous comedian from Bari, known above all for the television sitcom “Mudù” which has been broadcast on Telenorba since 2001, with his satirical and irreverent sketches which have also gone viral on the web.

Numerous participations in successful films such as “Le barzellette” by Carlo Vanzina with Gigi Proietti and “Giudice Mastrangelo” with Diego Abatantuono and Amanda Sandrelli.

In 2019 he also joined the cast of the Rai 2 broadcast “Made in Sud”.

Other Apulian comedians

Other famous Apulian actors are Emanuele de Nicolò (the famous Manuel and Manuel from the Very Strong Family, a sitcom that airs on Telenorba) together with Alfredo Navarra and Cinzia Clemente.

And from Trani Marco and Chicco, comedians from Zelig and Made in Sud and finally, from the cast of Mudù, Giuseppe Guida.

There are places where festivals and opportunities to combine sociality with music, dance and good food alternate throughout the year. Salento is one of these places and precisely because of a strong presence of outdoor parties and opportunities to share in “squares” and public places, the tradition of street food is very strong and present. From religious festivals that become the occasion for concerts and moments of sharing and shows that will leave you breathless, to the food and wine stands that accompany all the events. What will stimulate the palate and tempt the palate will not be the usual burgers and fries, but original and original dishes prepared instantly and ready to be enjoyed while walking through the streets of the most beautiful Italian cities. We are talking about the first entirely Salento format dedicated to quality street food: Salento Street Food.

Scapece Gallipolina

It strikes first for its colors and then for its mouth-watering smell, for its strong and delicious flavour: scapece is an ancient dish, from the times in which battles and invasions in this land of conquest kept the inhabitants closed in the walls and unable to have any food other than long-life food. Small fish dipped in bread, salt and saffron was among them.

In addition to the restaurants and trattorias of Gallipoli and surrounding areas, scapece is served during patronal celebrations and festivals.

Lecce Rustico: the Salento street food par excellence

It is probably the street food that most distinguishes Salento, it is the typical takeaway food from bars but it is also much loved by locals during aperitifs and as a quick snack during short lunch breaks. The rustico is made up of a circular pastry filled and baked in the oven. Here too, two schools of thought, recognizable in two bars in Lecce: on the one hand Christmas, probably the most loved by the people of Lecce, offers a filling based on bechamel and tomato, on the other Citiso whose rustico is stuffed with mozzarella, which it is said to actually be the original and traditional preparation.

Spicy olives

They are a must for patronal celebrations and various festivals. Spring is the time when they are most appreciated, together with summer, due to their perfect adaptability to cold beer and fresh drinks. In reality they can also be found, together with lupins, nuts, dried fruit in the “big market” of Lecce which is held every Monday and Friday in Viale dello Stadio!

Fried calzone

It is a crescent of fried dough about 15 centimeters long filled with chopped tomato and mozzarella. The fried calzone is the miniature version of the panzerotto from Bari, so much so that the most vigorous appetites never stop at just one!

Frisa

Immersing it in water for a few moments is almost a ritual, then it is seasoned with olive oil, cherry tomatoes, salt and oregano. The most important symbol of Salento gastronomy consists of a loaf of cooked durum wheat, cut in half and left to toast in the oven.

Fish & chips

On the street or in the most chic restaurants, all you need is a straw paper cone and the Salento version of “fish and chips” is served.

The revisitation of the famous British dish is a novelty that the Slow Food Puglia association has been proposing for some years at gastronomic events. In addition to potatoes, the dish is made up of fried paranza, mainly based on squid, cuttlefish, octopus and fracaja, the name with which the people of Salento indicate small fish that can only be eaten seasonally, due to biological restrictions. In Otranto there are some of the best restaurants where you can taste it.

Puccia

It is a bread with a dough similar to that of pizza, but with shorter leavening times. The puccia is stuffed in the most disparate ways: with cured meats, cheeses, grilled or roasted vegetables (such as peppers), sauces, meat. There are also those who have revisited gyros, a typical Greek dish, using puccia instead of pita and filling it with tzatziki or mayonnaise.

Pettole: Salento street food typical of the Christmas holidays

If in homes they are a typical food of the winter holidays, at village festivals the pettole become suitable for all seasons, crowding the stands from which their inviting scent comes. They have an ancient history and take different names according to the dialect area. The most frequent variations are cauliflower-based, pizzaiola-style or empty, i.e. based only on fried dough.

Pasticciotto leccese

It is the king of Salento desserts, mistakenly called pasticciotto Leccese, but it was not born in the capital, but in Galatina in the historic Ascalone family shop, which still exists. It is said that following a production of cakes with cream, the pastry chef had some shortcrust pastry and cream left over and decided to recover everything in a small way by creating pasticciotto.

The creation of this typical dessert presents different schools of thought: there are pastry chefs who prepare shortcrust pastry with lard, as happens for one of the numerous versions of the Neapolitan pastiera, others who prefer fats that are less intrusive in smell and flavour, such as butter. Someone puts a layer of jam or hazelnut or chocolate cream on the bottom to give stability to the dessert. A few years ago, in the Chèri pastry shop in Campi Salentina, a variant of the classic pasticciotto was born, the Obama, entirely made with chocolate.

Sandwich with pieces of horsemeat

The sandwich with pieces of horsemeat is a must in Salento street food: we encounter it at village festivals, on vans where it is preferred to hamburgers or hot dogs and in small take-away taverns. In a terracotta pot, cook the horse pieces with olive oil, carrot, celery and onion, but not directly on the fire, rather with one side of the pan adjacent to the flame, turning the pieces from time to time, until cooking ends.

Municeddhre

It is not strictly a Salento street food dish because it is also served in restaurants and trattorias, but at festivals and especially during the Municeddhra Festival in Cannole (LE), in summer, it can also be found in a street food version. Municeddhre is the generic name for small, brownishsnails, with or without cream, i.e. the layer of film with which the snails hibernate: these are fried and served with their sauce. Also available as street food are cozze piccinne, small white snails that are boiled and served with olive oil and oregano. Finally, there are the murruni, large, brown snails that are prepared as a variant of the French escargot, testifying to how the Normans were here for quite a while.

The month of February could be an excellent time to spend a holiday in Salento, as masks, confetti, Salento delicacies and lots of fun will be the main ingredients that will enliven the Carnival in Salento Greece with cheerful and lively colours. It is a festival in which art, intercultural meetings and twinning with different countries intersect and which give life to events characterized by folklore intertwined with religion.

An event full of sensations and allegorical demonstrations, which in some parts of the world is an unfailing tradition, to be safeguarded and preserved, to be carried forward and celebrated.

The origins of Carnival in Salento

Initially a Catholic tradition, then transformed over time from a purely pagan ritual, oriented towards exaggeration and subversion of the patterns in which society existed, to a ritual of abundance and celebration before the long period of fasting that comes with Lent, which ends with the arrival of Easter.

The celebrations have very ancient origins and have their roots in the Dionysian or Saturnalia rituals of the medieval era, handed down to us by a strong typically Salento popular spirit.

In Salento, the carnival period generally begins on January 17th and coincides with the “focare” ritual, i.e. the lighting of enormous piles of olive branches dedicated to S. Antonio Abate, in various points of the city.

Countless towns in the province of Lecce organize themselves for the great event: Casarano, Copertino (with its characteristic lu Paulinu mask), Corsano, Aradeo, Andrano and Borgagne (famous for the town’s musical band), Martignano, Scorrano (famous for the songs and dances during the Pascalino fire), Nardò and Melendugno, Supersano etc…

Carnival in Gallipoli: between rites and traditions

The oldest Carnival is that of Putignano, but the culmination of this period arrives with the parade organized in Gallipoli thanks to the intervention of the excellent Lecce artisans who were able to bring the art of papier-mâché to the highest levels, obtaining true masterpieces.

The traditional mask of the Gallipoli carnival is “lu Titoru”. Theodore, kept away from his homeland, ardently desired to return to his homeland at least for the Carnival, that is, in the period in which everyone could enjoy the abundance of food and have fun, before the advent of Lent. Even Teodoro’s mother, the “Caremma“, who was worried about her son, prayed that God could grant him a few days of extension of the Carnival, and her pleas were heard.

The celebration was extended by two days (“li giurni de la bianca”) and Teodoro was able to arrive in Gallipoli in time to enjoy the celebration. It was a Tuesday and Teodoro, to make up for lost time, ate so many tons of sausages and pork meatballs that he was choked. Thus, on that tragic Shrove Tuesday, Teodoro died and with him the Carnival also died, among the screams of pain that accompanied his coffin.

For this reason, he paraded a cart with a straw puppet representing Lu Titoru in procession through the streets of the city. Everyone got on their knees and showed their compunction and thus began, from Ash Wednesday, the penance that lasted for forty long days, the days of Lent.

After Ash Wednesday, on Thursday the “Pentolaccia” is celebrated, which gives the opportunity to consume the last remnants of the now concluded Carnival. It is a large pot, a “pignata“, containing sweets and sweets of all kinds which the children must break in order to gain possession of the precious contents.

Torre San Giovanni in Salento is a town in the Ugento marina overlooking the Ionian Sea.

Among the most popular in the summer months, it owes its name to the tower built in the 16th century by Charles V to monitor the coast. Its appearance today is very particular, as it is covered with black and white checkered tiling, therefore easy to remember for tourists and to identify for sailors.

The lighthouse of the tower itself divides the coasts into two: towards the north with low cliffs and rather shallow waters in which real natural pools are created; on the southern side, however, long white beaches extend similar to earthly paradises with an immaculate turquoise sea, pine forests and dunes. Furthermore, Messapian walls were discovered around the tower.

Torre San Giovanni territory is very large and varied: there are areas of historical-archaeological interest (Contrada Pozze) and naturalistic interest (Pineta Comunale).

The sea and the beaches

The crystal clear waters of Torre San Giovanni have received the Blue Flag recognition several times: the shallow sandy seabed makes this place pleasant for family holidays but also for having fun with friends. Coves are wonderful to discover during snorkeling sessions or boat excursions but you can practice numerous other water sports to admire the breathtaking beauty of the seabed.

In addition to fun and sports, the Torre San Giovanni beach is perfect for relaxing and having fun in one of the many beaches equipped with sunbeds and umbrellas. Often in many establishments there are also excellent restaurants where you can enjoy delicious seafood specialties or fresh fruit and, for anyone who wants to keep fit, it is possible to try your hand at football or beach volleyball matches on one of the numerous pitches.

And in the afternoon and evening, the beaches are transformed into real open-air discos with live DJ sets where you can dance, have fun and socialize between one cocktail and another.

What to do in Torre San Giovanni

• There is not only the sea in Torre San Giovanni: in fact, for all walking lovers, there are trekking routes in uncontaminated nature to enjoy a bit of tranquility away from the confusion of the beaches. During the walks you will be able to admire the typical vegetation of the Mediterranean scrub, with olive trees and vineyards, such as that of the Valle degli Armeculi and the Gravine di Ugento.

• The city street is populated and cheerful: here there is no shortage of clubs and bars offering evening entertainment with live music and aperitifs but also foam parties and themed evenings.

• In Torre San Giovanni there is also a wide choice of restaurants that serve tasty dishes of typical Salento cuisine, seafood first courses and fried fish and octopus, accompanied by good Salento wine.

• During the summer there are various patronal celebrations and festivals that are organised. In July, for example, the Sagra della Puccia takes place, a typical Salento sandwich which is mixed with black olives and seasoned with tuna, cherry tomatoes and local vegetables. In August, however, there is the Sagra te li ciceri e tria, a typical handmade pasta seasoned with chickpeas and pieces of pasta fried in oil.

• Furthermore, for tourists who are here in August, a truly characteristic and fun experience is to participate in the celebrations in honor of the Madonna dell’Aiuto, which are held on the 10th and 11th of the month. The statue of the Virgin is taken by boat and transported to the sea followed by the faithful, the authorities and the musical band on boats or dinghies.

Everyone can organize their dream holiday in Torre San Giovanni, in fact here there are numerous accommodation facilities suitable for every budget: hotels, B&Bs and tourist villages, according to your needs.

How to get to Torre San Giovanni

By plane:

• Brindisi airport 110km
• Bari airport 230km

By train:

To get to Torre San Giovanni by train there are various alternatives:

• From Lecce station, take a regional train and from there continue with local connections.
• From Lecce station take the green line of the excellent Salento bus service.
• From Lecce station or any other station, use the rental with driver service which will take you directly to your destination.

By car:

• From Brindisi: SS613 towards Lecce. Before arriving in Lecce, take the SS694 Tangenziale Ovest junction. After a few km take the SS101 junction for Gallipoli. Continue on this road which from Gallipoli onwards becomes SS274 towards Santa Maria di Leuca, then take the Taurisano-Ugento exit and continue towards Ugento. Once in the town, follow the signs (5km) for Torre San Giovanni.
• From Bari: SS16 towards Brindisi and continue to Lecce without ever changing direction. Once you arrive on the SS613, follow the directions above.

Silent witnesses of the first expressions of human feeling, of a past that did not yet know the Messapic civilization, are the Menhirs scattered throughout Salento, whose origin and function remain shrouded in an aura of mystery.

Erected starting from the Neolithic, the Menhir is a type of megalithic monument consisting of a monolithic column, of an almost geometric or irregular shape, mostly left rough, fixed vertically in the ground, also called Pietrafitta, no more than 5 meters high.

The function of the Menhirs in Salento

• This megalithic path is illuminated by legends, as there is still no certain and entirely plausible explanation for their function. It is thought they served as “signposts” of tombs of extraordinary importance.

• Many do not exclude the significance of real monuments dedicated to the dead or to divinities, especially since many still show traces of anthropomorphic sculptures, the so-called “alignments” which could be gathering places or sacred streets.

• Other currents would like the broad faces of the stone, oriented from east to west, illuminated by the sun to be used to mark time and mark the solstices and equinoxes, or identify them as simulacra of the fertility cult of the mother goddess earth.

• What is certain is that in the Middle Ages they were aimed at the “Christianization” of the menhirs, through the affixing of the cross on the facades of the structure. From here they became the shared heritage of Christianity and even today in some villages of Salento, they are chosen as the destination of the Palm Sunday procession to stop and bless the olive twigs.

• Mystery and doubts have always invaded the world of Menhirs in Salento: if it is not clear which people had erected them and for what purposes. It is possible that the places where the Menhirs were built were considered suitable for establishing contact with the otherworldly world and the Gods.

A link between past and present that is preserved by a multifaceted land that brings together culture, nature, folklore and history disseminated by testimonies of different and ancient peoples; an original, inexplicable sacredness that we live with every day.

Where are the Mehnir found in Salento?

Traces of these “elderly” stones in many countries of the world: France, British Isles, North Africa, Germany.

Among the Italian regions, Puglia is certainly the richest in such megaliths. In fact, there are approximately 120 located in the coastal area of Bari, an area north of Taranto and in Salento.

These “sacred stones” are concentrated in the area between Minervino, Giurdignano, Giuggianello, Martano and Otranto.

• In Giurdignano, defined as the “megalithic garden of Italy”, there are more than 15 examples, we highlight: the “Madonna of Constantinople” (3 meters high, in Lecce stone); “Monte Tongolo” (discovered in 1951); the two “Vico Nuovo”; the “Croce della Fausa” (from the name of the adjacent cave); the “San Vincenzo” (one of the tallest); the “Palanzano”; the “Madonna del Rosario” (transformed into a votive column with an octagonal plan); the two “Vicinanze” (so called from the name of a nearby rock farmhouse). Another menhir worthy of note is certainly the “San Paolo” which takes its name from the saint to whom the Byzantine crypt on which it stands is named. One of the lowest (about 2 metres) bears the signs of Christianisation in that hole on the top which, it is thought, housed the cross.

• Moving to Giuggianello, we will find the “Polisano” menhir and the “Quattromacine” (in Lecce stone).

• In Martano there is one of the highest Menhirs in Italy, the “Menhir de Santu Totaru“, which reaches 4.70 meters in height.

• 7km from Otranto, on the Serra di Monte Vergine, stands the menhir of the same name, as is the sanctuary that rises at the top of the hill.

During your walks through the historic centers of Salento, you may come across houses with a particular architectural shape. The phenomenon of courtyard houses, born in 1500 in Salento, favored, in past times, the social cohesion of families thanks to its structural characteristics.

The courtyard house is common throughout the Mediterranean area also for common reasons related to the climate: part of the work that would otherwise have to be carried out indoors could easily be moved outdoors.

How they were structured

• From an architectural point of view, these homes are composed of a courtyard conceived as a multifunctional space outside the home, as a place of work, storage and warehouse, shelter for working animals, space for socialisation, entertainment and play to which accessed from a portal overlooking the street.

• All the entrances to the individual rooms that make up the building overlook the courtyard. The rooms are hardly connected to each other from the inside.

• As time passed, another room was built in the courtyard: the house of the firstborn. In this way we arrived at multi-family courts.

• With the improvement of the living conditions of the farmers, who went from laborers to small owners, the elementary courtyard house was enriched with a covered driveway, connecting the road and the house, called samportu or sampuertu. The horse and the trailer were stored in this room and the straw and work tools were stored.

• A first important modification to courtyard houses are the so-called shutters, or doors, from here the socializing moment begins to lose importance and the need for privacy begins. Process that will lead to the detachment of the children’s family from that of the parents, thus moving from the extended family to the small family, i.e. the one today.

• The stable, the room where the well is located and the “pile” for the laundry (a tub generally dug into a block of stone) also overlook the courtyard. At the back of the houses, in some cases, there is also a small garden, not paved unlike the courtyard.

The social importance of courtyard houses

The “courtyard houses” were owned by large landowners, who had their laborers use them as homes. It was usually a single family unit who lived in these houses, but often some rooms were given to married children who, in this way, continued to live together with their family of origin. The rooms were quite large, but sparsely furnished.

This type of housing promoted socialization and had a great function of social cohesion. The layout and architectural structure of the house were therefore important for the socialization process, the living cell was such as to favor the coexistence of the family, in this way the father and/or grandparents, in continuous contact with their children and grandchildren, spent the free time talking and telling fairy tales, the so-called cunti and culacchi which kept together and allowed the traditions and aspects of the popular culture of the time to be passed down.

In recent years there has been a recovery of “courtyard houses” by the owner families, who often use them as private homes or as accommodation facilities, in particular B&Bs – renovated with taste and following the styles of Salento architecture. Many examples of “courtyard houses” are found in the towns of Salento Greece, in Salento.

Currently there are 11 municipalities that make it up, all in the province of Lecce: Calimera, Carpignano Salentino, Castrignano dei Greci, Corigliano d’Otranto, Cutrofiano, Martano, Martignano, Melpignano, Soleto, Sternatia, Zollino.

Those born in Salento hardly forget it… It’s a sort of magical contagion, something that remains in your blood, even if life with its experiences takes you thousands of kilometers away. There are many testimonies of this magical land that is Salento, particularly in the music of many artists born here. Artists of the caliber of Alessandra Amoroso, Emma Marrone, Negramaro, Sud Sound System and many others who have become famous far from their homeland, who never miss an opportunity to reiterate how much they are still linked to Salento, describing with ecstasy the culinary delights that have characterized the their childhood and the wonderful places that were the setting for their youth.

Music of the soul: pizzica and taranta

• There are melodies that are inextricably linked to the territories from which they come, a type of music that in recent years is making itself known to an ever-increasing number of people, fascinating everyone with its hypnotic rhythm, an ideal background for a landscape made up of expanses of olive trees, sun, fertile red earth and sea as far as the eye can see: the pizzica.

• Salento is also a reminder and attraction for its sounds, its songs and its dances; homeland of the culture of “tarantismo“, i.e. the culture of the “taranta“. The taranta is a spider that inhabits the countryside of Salento and according to ancient and popular beliefs it bit, or rather pinched (from this the music and dance of the “pizzica” takes its name) the poor peasants who put their foot between the stones or the ‘grass.
  The only way to heal from this bite, which caused severe pain and irregular movements throughout the body, was to dance to the rhythm of the music, to the rhythm of pizzica. The pizzica was therefore born as a “healing” dance from the bite of the taranta.

The Notte della Taranta is the largest music festival dedicated to pizzica, traveling in Salento in August, with a final evening in Melpignano, where the Orchestra Popolare plays directed by concert masters of the caliber of Stewart Copeland, Ambrogio Sparagna, Ludovico Einaudi and Goran Bregovic and the great Pino Zimba to whose name the Salento pizzica is immediately attributed. Numerous groups promote pizzica around the world, such as Officina Zoè, the Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, the Ghetonìa, the Tamburellisti of Torrepaduli.

History of Salento popular music

• To know and understand the origins of these rhythms we must start from the 1960s, when emigration became a truly mass phenomenon. Thousands of Salento people went everywhere in search of work and better living conditions, moving away from their cultural context of origin.

• In the meantime, two important abandonments occurred: the progressive abandonment of the lands and the abandonment of tarantism. In short, tarantism was condemned by the new generations, increasingly attentive to new cultural proposals and less and less interested in learning the stories, songs and sounds of tradition from their fathers. The latter, having acknowledged this, began a real phenomenon of retreat into private life, who tenaciously continued to sing, play, tell stories, produce musical instruments, but they were few and they did so mostly in private contexts. and for passion. Thanks to these people, the phenomenon of rediscovery began.

• Some of these young people rediscovered the songs in a political key, given the 70s a period of movements, protests, ideologies that now pervaded the minds and hearts of many young people: communism and socialism.
  In short, from this multifaceted and heterogeneous cultural congeries, in the wake of the success of the Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano, the Salentino Folk Group was born first, then the Nuovo Canzoniere del Salento and finally the Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino.

• Between the 1980s and the early 2000s the first concerts of Salento popular music groups began, even outside the Apulian territory, due to the increasingly numerous requests for ethnic music, since popular music festivals began to flourish throughout Italy, such as the famous Folk Island of Bergamo, the popular music festival of Forlimpopoli or the Pisa Folk Festival.

Salento reggae

Salento has found itself at the center of tourist attention, for numerous reasons. First of all because the path of rediscovery of popular music and local traditions intrigued numerous scholars, who went to Salento to analyze a very peculiar phenomenon: festivals, parties and squares invaded by people eager to play, sing and revive old popular music. Therefore, until a few years ago, Salento tourism was predominantly “ethnic” and, in any case, aimed at learning about local traditions.

Another reason that brought fame to Salento is linked to reggae music. Salento reggae was born at the end of the 80s, this story coincides with the story of a group of boys (who later became Sud Sound System) and their unconditional love for Reggae music, in that land, Salento, so far away from the so-called “circuits” and at the same time so rich in culture and traditions.

But, as often happens, the history of Salento reggae is not geographically limited to the province of Lecce, it is in fact intertwined with that of the squats in Bologna, the city where most of the group’s members resided for study purposes. Here at the end of ’88 the young people of Salento gave life to mythical street apparitions under the porticoes of via Avasella 12 and in the occupied premises of the newly founded Isola Nel Cantiere.

Also in Bologna another parenthesis of Salento reggae opened: with Treble on guitar and vocals, Gopher on drums and Giorgio Pizzi on bass, the Rough Ryders were born in October ’89, a band that toured the universities they were under occupation in Bologna. Only one demo of theirs remains, which cannot be found today (One Blood).

Later, other reggae music groups in Salento would develop such as Boomdabash, Mama Marias, Ghetto Eden and many others.

Music profiles

Following the rediscovery of Salento folk songs, the traditional music of Salento has continued to tell stories and numerous revival groups have been formed over the years.

• On a textual level, the example of the Aramirè group (Salento music company) is significant, as they have given wide prominence to current social issues.

• An artist who grew up in peasant society and subsequently matured artistically and culturally, so much so that she has become a sort of synthesis between musical evolution and memory, is Anna Cinzia Villani.

• On the musical profile, the project of the Mascarimirì group is interesting, which links pizzica-pizzica to other musicalities (gypsy, oriental, dub, etc.). Mascarimirì are also committed to the recovery of traditional sounds by combining sound research with the criticism of the banalization of popular music.

• Also on the musical profile, emphasis should be given to the Officina Zoè group, which has been able to evolve Salento popular music by proposing traditional but at the same time new sounds.

• On the musical and textual profile, the Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, founded in 1975 by Rina Durante, deserves great attention. The proposed song is despicable not only for the text, but also because the video was shot in the ACAIT headquarters in Tricase.

• Great attention deserves Mino De Santis, a Salento singer-songwriter originally from Tuglie, who was able to analyze pieces of life, habits and customs by skilfully mixing the use of dialect and Italian in his singing.

• Finally, a mention deserves the showman Andrea Baccassino, from Nardò who chose to tell plausible stories, with funny lyrics and using famous songs as a basis, obviously in dialect.

Salento artists

Once again Salento, land of pizzica, but also of reggae, jazz and pop, proves to be a fertile land for the birth of musical innovations to be exported to the national territory and there are many people from Salento who have become famous in the musical field.

• Negramaro, a Salento group that takes its name from wine and grape variety. Over the years, the successes for this Italian pop rock band have been countless: they have participated in national and international music festivals, they have seen their songs adopted as soundtracks for films, documentaries and television commercials; have recorded musical pieces in the United States. It was the first Italian band to hold a concert at the San Siro stadium in Milan.

• Emma Marrone became famous between 2009 and 2010, after her victory on Amici. Emma is from Salento and lived for most of her life in Aradeo with her parents of Salento origins; she herself feels and defines herself as Leccese. Contributing to her success was her victory at the 62nd Sanremo Italian Song Festival, in 2012, with the song “Non è l’inferno”.

• Dolcenera is the stage name adopted by Emanuela Trane. She was born in Galatina and lives in Scorrano in the province of Lecce together with her parents and younger brother. Her first success dates back to 2003 with the victory of the 53rd edition of the Sanremo Festival with the song “Siamo tutti là fuori”.

• Alessandra Amoroso, born in Galatina and lived in Lecce, achieved success in 2009 by participating in the talent show Amici di Maria De Filippi. Sandra’s abilities, as her friends call her, are immediately evident to artists of the caliber of Laura Pausini and Gianni Morandi who show their respect for her.

Until you see it, you don’t believe such a place could exist. An enchanted, magical place, full of stories and mysteries, which revolve around what it once was, a private property largely unattended and left to rot, a chest broken into and abandoned to its fate, a heritage of humanity that of humanity it retains only the traces yellowed by time. Here, in the countryside of Veglie and at the crossroads between the four fiefdoms of Nardò, Avetrana, San Pancrazio Salentino and Salice Salentino, on the edge of a hill overlooking the sea of Torre Lapillo, in the heart of the Arneo, stands Monteruga, now reported only from rusty road signs, the ghost town in the heart of Salento uninhabited since the 1980s.

History of Monteruga

All the history, experience, peculiarities of Salento and its people seem to be represented by this place.

• It was born in the fascist era, when farms and agricultural companies flourished throughout Salento which were supposed to lead to the autonomy of the town.

• Hectares of uncultivated land which since the 1950s have been made available by farmers willing to move here with their family. The village has older origins, rising around what was a fortified farm, it took on its current appearance in the fascist era.

• What was just a farm, under the management of the S.E.B.I. electricity company. (Società Elettrica per Bonifiche e Irrigazioni, which later became ENEL) became a real town, which permanently had 800 inhabitants, divided into 100/150 families; it experienced its splendor in the 1950s, with the cultivation of tobacco and the production of wine, becoming above all a destination for people, in particular farmers from the surrounding areas, who moved here in search of work and fortune.

• A self-sufficient community was created, which in a short time due to economic problems that affected the company that owned the town, was sold to private individuals and from here its decline began: the farm was privatized, the village emptied and the inhabitants they moved to nearby cities.

Local products

In Monteruga tobacco, oil and wine were produced, and the ruins bear witness to this: a wine factory, on whose walls there was a fascist slogan, useful, it was said, to encourage workers to work: “He who drinks wine lives longer than a doctor who forbids it.” Walking through the streets of this abandoned town, you can see the church of Sant’Antonio Abate (patron saint of the place), the bowling green, the farmers’ houses, the barracks, the garages, the administrative offices, the school, the oil mill , the tobacco factory and the other agricultural products grown in the same land, by the farmers and settlers who reached this place from all the Salento areas, even from Capo di Leuca.

Traditions of the Monteruga town

But Monteruga wasn’t just work. A large family, where every moment of life was shared. In the summer, children from the summer camps also arrived to bring joy and happiness, there were large outdoor parties, we put on make-up and went for walks.

The saints were celebrated, as was appropriate. Sant’Antonio Abate was the patron saint of Monteruga, and every year, on January 17, a large procession passed through the village. In the memories of those who lived that place, the beauty of that day seems unforgettable, especially for those who were children at the time and received a leather ball or a doll as a gift for the occasion.

Also indelible are the memories linked to the annual procession in honor of Corpus Domini, when the women, as a sign of devotion, hung their trousseau on wires in the street, laboriously embroidered in the few hours of rest. They were beautiful moments, in which social and role differences were canceled out, and we were all together: settlers, farmers, administrators. Love was born in Monteruga, people got married, children were raised, but they didn’t die. Funerals were not celebrated here, as if only the triumph of life should prevail.

The town houses

Each family had its own house, all but one with a shared outdoor bathroom. The settlers’ houses, a bedroom and the kitchen, were arranged in a row and followed each other along the three sides of the large portico that surrounded the main square, following the rule “one door, one family“. Far from these homes, the primary school teacher’s house, built in that place to guarantee what at the time was defined as “moral hygiene”.

Monteruga today

Today, Monteruga is one of the most famous Ghost Towns in Italy. It is no longer that town full of life and populated by dynamic and industrious people, but presents itself as a deserted and abandoned place. Its buildings are still standing but they appear gloomy and full of nostalgia for what once was.

Despite the external signs that delimit private property, and the disturbing and desolate scenario that presents itself, many curious people still venture into this forgotten corner and piece of Salento in the land of Arneo, to explore this “glimpse of the past“, which continues to live, despite its sad history, and to show its most peculiar characteristics to all those who practice and love the so-called “abandonment tourism“, or the pleasure that can be felt by visiting all those ghost places that dot our territory.

The atmosphere of the abandoned square recalls the many films with apocalyptic scenarios. It seems that the town was abandoned from one moment to the next and that nature is taking over its spaces inexorably.

However, the beauty of the village has never ceased to enchant visitors and if Monteruga has had to deal with depopulation and the loss of the vitality offered by its inhabitants, today it appears permeated by a ghostly and nostalgic charm.