Coastal towers in Salento

The Salento peninsula has been the “gateway to Italy” for centuries, a border territory, where historical events have influenced the fabric of the settlement fabric and have determined architecture that still stands out today for its monumentality. The ancient coastal towers in Salento are some of the most important historical testimonies of the period in which the region represented the frontier of Europe, the bridge from the Western world to the East.

It may be the intersection between sky and sea, it may be that they tell a distant story, it may be that hint of wildness that they still retain, but the almost one hundred coastal towers of Salento really deserve to be seen.

Like silent guardians in stone, imposing, overlooking the sea, some ruins that seem to emerge from the rocks, others solitary like nobles in exile, chase each other endlessly, defining the first defensive line of the South against the raids of pirates, Saracens and Turks.

Historical aspect of the coastal towers in Salento

• The first towers in Salento were built during the Roman Empire: others followed, built in the Middle Ages, under Swabian domination and then under Angevin domination. The construction of the towers followed very specific criteria, as they had to be able to communicate with the nearest ones, through precise light signals put in place by sentries located at the top, in order to signal possible dangers coming from the sea. Furthermore, their location was chosen in order to have the best possible view also towards the hinterland, so that any alarm signals could be launched promptly from the fortification.

• However, the phenomenon took on considerable importance between 1558 and 1567, to deal with the continuous raids. 339 towers were built throughout the South and 96 in Puglia alone: 16 in the Bari area, 80 in the Otranto area, a much larger area, as we know, than the current Province of Lecce.

• Unfortunately, most of them show all the signs of aging, but others have been the subject of recovery and restoration and all their peculiarities have been brought to light.

Structure of the coastal towers in Salento

• The towers of the medieval era were built mainly with a square plan, with a scarp base and a top terrace demarcated by battlements with slits on the walls.
• During the Renaissance era the towers generally took on a circular shape, with the entrance often placed on the upper floor.
• At the end of the 15th century, the Kingdom of Naples, faced with the intensification of attacks, decided to restore and complete the system of coastal towers. Tall, majestic in the severe simplicity of the architectural lines, they are cylindrical and quadrangular with a truncated pyramidal base.
• Missing, at least in the Lecce area, are those in the shape of a star or a “priest’s hat” as in the case of those of Torre Santa Sabina and San Pietro in Bevagna. The former, which are the oldest, were mainly for sighting purposes, the latter also had defensive purposes and were equipped with catapults, thrusters, culverins and firearms: some recovered and are in an excellent state of preservation, others, unfortunately, in state of total abandonment. Sometimes they are real fortresses such as the so-called tower of the Four Columns of Santa Maria al Bagno of which only the four corner columns remain standing today.

Journey to discover the coastal towers in Puglia

There are no real itineraries to choose from to discover the coastal towers in Salento. Many of the towers are located close to some of the most famous holiday resorts, others immersed in suggestive oases, sandwiched between wild nature and the typical crystalline sea that bathes the coastal areas.

This unusual tour of the ancient coastal towers in Salento is a nice and different way to experience the area, to get to know the unique places and landscapes of a timeless, beautiful and fascinating Puglia!

I will list just some of the most important towers that populate the coasts of Salento starting from the Gargano to the tip of Capo di Leuca and then going up to Taranto.

The Towers in the province of Foggia

In the province of Foggia the coastal towers extend along the entire coast of the Gargano and significant are those erected in the territory of the Municipality of San Nicandro Garganico: Torre Calarossa, of which today only a few ruins remain and Torre Mileto, built on a quadrangular base, as imposing as a few others with the four corners facing the cardinal points, it also has five machicolations and a stone staircase which leads to the first floor.

The Towers in the province of Bari

Going down towards Bari, one of the most important is Torre Calderina, between Molfetta and Bisceglie, in the center of a splendid area where in addition to the Mediterranean scrub there are archaeological sites, ancient villas, trulli, dry stone walls, caves, liame and pebble beaches . In the land of Bari one of the most evocative remains that of San Vito which takes its name from the nearby Abbey in the territory of Polignano a Mare.

The Towers in the province of Taranto

Long sandy beaches and a crystalline sea characterize the coast up to the border with the territory of Taranto where Torre Colimena stands, in the municipality of Manduria, which with its machicolations and the signs of the drawbridge placed close to the staircase, guards the long stretch of golden beach.

The Towers in the province of Brindisi

In the province of Brindisi, among the best preserved towers we find that of Torre Guaceto inside the natural park of the same name where you can stop to observe passing and resident birds, and the imposing Torre Santa Sabina on the coast of the town of Carovigno. Worth a stop and a photographic memory are Torre Specchiolla on the border between the territories of Brindisi and Lecce, Torre Sant’Andrea in Melendugno and the Torri del Serpe and dell’Orte in Otranto.

The Towers in the province of Lecce

• From San Foca you reach Roca Vecchia, a once thriving Messapian city and then a very active port equipped with a fortress of which the evocative ruins are preserved. The tower, also reduced to ruins, dates back to 1568 and has the typical truncated pyramid structure just like Torre dell’Orso in the seaside resort of the same name.

• Once in Otranto we head to L’Orte. First you come across the cylindrical Torre del Serpe. Further on are the Masseria dell’Orte and the Torre dell’Orte, a large and low truncated pyramid structure which served as a fort.

• Returning to the coast road, you head towards Torre Sant’Emiliano where a truncated cone tower dominates one of the most beautiful stretches of the eastern Salento coast. The coastal road leads to Porto Badisco and Santa Cesarea, locations defended by Torre Minervino, Torre Specchia di Guardia, Torre Santa Cesarea and the imposing Torre Miggiano.

• On the Ionian side, between Ugento and the Nardò marina, the Palude del Capitano extends, a wetland where a particular marshy habitat has been created. Watching over the caves is a sixteenth-century giant but now almost reduced to a ruin: Torre Uluzzo, known as Porto Selvaggio.

• In Santa Maria al Bagno you can admire the Torre del Fiume, better known as the “Four Columns”, because the perimeter walls of an ancient castle collapsed.

• Continuing towards Gallipoli, before reaching the Torre del Pizzo, you pass through one of the most naturalistically interesting areas of the province of Lecce.

• Continuing south you come across Torre Suda, while in the territory of Ugento you will find Torre San Giovanni, one of the most “in” places on the coast, where the landscape becomes even more suggestive thanks to a dense pine forest with specimens of Aleppo pine that extends onto the beach.

The Apulian capasoni, from the dialect term “capase” (i.e. capable), are yellow ocher or brown yellow clay containers of variable capacity (from a few liters up to 300) used in ancient times as containers for wine, extra virgin olive oil and water, due to their ability to keep the temperature inside them constant without the contents altering.

The Apulian capasoni: from containers to furnishing objects

• In the past, when cooperative cellars did not yet exist, the capasoni replaced the barrels and were used to contain the wine produced after the harvest but also solid foods such as dried figs, pickled mushrooms and pickled olives.

• The capasone was sealed with a clay plate fixed with a mixture of lime and ash (only in this way was it possible to avoid infiltrations from the outside).

• At the bottom, a small tap called “cannedda” or a cork called “pipolo” was fixed. After use, the capasone, in order to be used again, was washed with water and ground tuff with the aid of a brush. Above the latter were fixed tufts of myrtle, thyme and other fragrant essences.

For years, capasoni have also been used during the wine and oil trade in the Mediterranean.

Since the early 2000s, these traditional jars have also become a beautiful design object in great demand to decorate villas and gardens. There is no shortage of testimonies of capasoni even in luxurious resorts, even in America. In fact, this object can match perfectly in a garden as a flower vase or in a living room to give the room an atmosphere of times gone by.

The capasoni are distinguished from other containers such as the Sicilian jars which have a stockier and more capacious shape, from the Ligurian jar which has a lighter yellow colour, from the Tuscan jars which have a more reddish color and from the Umbrian jars which are lighter and tapered.

The Salento “liame” are rural buildings, with a quadrangular or rectangular plan with a barrel vault. The perimeter walls of the liàme are built with dry stone, while the barrel vault roof is made of blocks of tufaceous stone.

Function of Salento “liame”

Built to serve as tool warehouses or temporary shelters, today transformed into second homes, into delightful hermitages for lovers of absolute peace and nature. These suggestive houses, typical of Salento and Puglia more generally, scattered throughout the countryside, date back to the year 1000, like the pajare (which instead have a circular plan). In the peasant culture that Salento has now left behind, they were the ideal environment for drying most of the fruits that this strip of land provided: from figs to broad beans, from almonds to walnuts, etc.

In fact, these constructions allowed a more spacious terrace than that of the trullo, for different uses, such as drying “the chips”, for which the term liama derives from their large terrace (in fact in the Salento dialect “liama” = terrace).

The roofs of these homes, evidence of ancient times, were often flat and plastered with a particular white mortar, as were the walls. These are simple and poor homes made with material easily available locally and were created with the aim of hosting farmers engaged in field work for short periods.

Construction techniques

Their original character is expressed through the technique and material used to build them. The stones found in the open countryside were arranged together without the use of mortar. The roof, as mentioned, was that of the barrel vault, created with blocks of tuff.

Final results?

A unique environment without windows, outside a small staircase to allow you to reach the roof. Houses with star or corner vaults are decidedly warmer in winter and cooler in summer. The credit goes to the stone and the particular shape of the ceiling which spreads the heat more uniformly, without dispersing it.

They are very frequent constructions in the area, both in the countryside and in the marinas of Peluse and Torre Pali.

Traveling through Salento it is still possible to find the traces left by the ancient peoples who made this corner of Italy an enchanting and unforgettable place. And while walking, you can’t help but stop to notice the endless, perfect and aligned buildings. A unique architectural style, a centuries-old construction technique, which has survived to this day thanks to the work of the ancient masters, custodians of tradition.

Lecce known as the “Florence of the South” is an open-air museum that enchants its visitors with the exuberance of its architectural features to be discovered little by little. A place to experience at any time of the day, when the sun in its path crosses the richness of its buildings and creates a wonderful play of embroidery and decorations. Walking through the streets of the Lecce baroque is a musical experience, with fast melodies and refined embellishments that suddenly appear in front of the many manifestations and testimonies of a past that is still alive. In fact, “old Lecce“, as its original inhabitants called it, seems like a city out of time, suspended between past and present in a very suggestive atmosphere, which has attracted cultured travelers from the most distant corners of Europe.

The house of Baroque

Visiting Lecce means getting lost among the wonders of the Baroque, letting yourself be enchanted by the churches and palaces embroidered in stone, the courtyards and secret gardens. Walking through the streets of the historic centre, it is possible to notice how Lecce is full of history and art: for example, there are numerous testimonies from the Roman era, such as the Amphitheater and the Roman theatre, but what characterizes it most is its peculiar style baroque, renamed “Lecce baroque” precisely because it was revisited in a completely new and original way.

This style, developed in the seventeenth century under Spanish domination, is distinguished by the sumptuous ornaments that enrich the facades of the buildings, exquisitely picturesque decorations created thanks to the use of Lecce stone. The most famous example of Lecce Baroque is the Basilica of Santa Croce, built between the 16th century and the end of the 17th century, renowned for its unmistakable rose window.

Alongside the majestic work is a rare example of sober baroque, the adjacent former Celestine convent and the Cathedral of the Assumption with the high bell tower which, together with the Seminary Palace and the Archbishop’s Palace, adorn the suggestive Piazza Duomo, a closed square and beating heart of Lecce, the religious hub of the city.

In short, Baroque art can be felt in every corner of the city, from noble homes to window frames, from chapels to decorated balconies.

Moving a little further, still in the historic center of Lecce, you will find various churches: there is the church of Santa Irene, of San Matteo, of Carmine and of San Giovanni Battista. We also find other splendid examples of Baroque in the Alcantarine church and in Palazzo Marrese.

Lecce Baroque outside Lecce

This style with elaborate shapes also infiltrates the urban fabric of other Salento centers, beyond the borders of Lecce. An example of Baroque can be found in the historic center of Gallipoli, where the Cathedral of Sant’Agata is located: the latter houses, in addition to a rich and elegant façade, also baroque style altars, among which the one built by Cosimo Fanzago. Also in Gallipoli you cannot avoid visiting the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites, also in Baroque style.

Moving south on the Lecce – Maglie, after a few kilometers you come to the junction for Galatina. This city is among the major centers of Salento and houses several valuable baroque creations. The most important is the Mother Church, dedicated to the Apostles Piero and Paolo and built already in the fourteenth century.

Many other examples are:

• the Mother Church of Francavilla Fontana
• the church of San Domenico
• the Basilica of San Martino in Martina Franca
• the Spire of the Immaculate Conception in Nardò
• the church of the Crucifix in Galatone

If the cities we have talked about preserve much of the baroque of Terra d’Otranto, we must however underline that this form of architectural art also managed to establish itself in many of the other local centres, including the lower Salento up to Santa Maria di Leuca. Some testimonies that we cite are the parish church of Lequile, the church of the Immacolata of Cutrofiano, the mother church of Castrì and that of Tricase, but there are too many examples to list them all. Even the smallest towns can often boast their own baroque monument or palace.

The Baroque style and its colors are one of the peculiarities of Salento and, therefore, it was requested that the Salento cities of Lecce and Gallipoli become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A living testimony of prehistory in Puglia are the “Specchie” constructions similar to towers and consist of artifacts of very ancient origins made dry from piles of limestone. It is not possible to give these constructions a precise historical location: according to some scholars, in fact, their appearance dates back to the Neolithic, while, for others, they date back to the times of the Messapians.

Their function

Their real function is very uncertain. According to some paleontologists the Specchie represent the ruins of ancient and gigantic houses, similar to the Sardinian nuraghi and the very famous trulli, for others they are constructions erected for defensive purposes by primitive man, finally, for still others they have a tomb function. But the most concrete hypothesis is that they served as a lookout post to control the coast.

The types of Specchie in Puglia

The mirrors are divided based on size and functions into:

• Large Specchie: structures that rise following a conical shape with a height of approximately 10-15 metres.

• Small Specchie: piles of stone that seem to have had funerary functions. Generally these are simple piles of stones created spontaneously to form small bumps of limestone stones scattered across the countryside.

Where are Specchie found in Puglia

The Itria Valley, some municipalities of Salento and the Gargano have various Specchie scattered throughout their territories. In fact, there are 18 around Ceglie Messapica, 10 near Villa Castelli, others scattered between Cisternino, Fasano and Francavilla Fontana. The most famous of the Tarantina mirrors is that of the hamlet of the municipality of Martina Franca.

Northern Salento and the Oria area also have some specimens of Specchie, others are scattered between the areas of Martano, Ugento, Cavallino and Presicce. There is no shortage of them in the Murgia Barese area. In the territory of Salve, a municipality in Puglia in the province of Lecce, there are 3 mirrors: the Specchia Cantoro, the Specchia Spriculizzi, the Specchia Cucuruzzi, otherwise known as the Fersini, the most impressive and ancient. Rich in charm and mystery, Specchia dei Mori arouses the great interest of scholars and tourists.

Located near Martano-Caprarica, it is also known as the “Segla tu demoniu“. An ancient legend has it that this mirror hides inside a treasure consisting of a hen and twelve golden chicks, impossible to take because they are in the hands of the devil.

Another fascinating legend that hovers around this “enchanted” mirror tells that giant Moors, ancient inhabitants of these places, decided to build this mirror so high to be able to climb up to the sky. The gesture was not appreciated by the gods who therefore caused it to collapse, burying those who had built it with the stones of the collapse.

To date, these ancient buildings are shapeless but at the same time continue to exert a great fascination on the multitudes of tourists who come to visit these places of ritual and mystery.

Among the many peculiarities that characterize the Salento landscape and Puglia in general, there are undoubtedly the dry stone walls. These walls give all visitors one of the most authentic faces of Salento such that they immediately understand where they are. The creators of the “dry stone walls”, who handed down this art form through the centuries, were certainly the descendants of the Messapians and the Neoliths.

What do dry stone walls consist of?

The dry stone walls in Puglia are made up of stone blocks placed one above the other, fitted together without the use of cement or other materials, and belong to the ancient customs of the farmers. They began to use them to protect their crops from pastures, to mark the border between one property and another, as a small fence for animals, or they built them along the coast to defend the crops from atmospheric agents.

These stones of various sizes were obtained from the rock, specially crushed, and were aligned by means of increasingly more defined techniques, which were handed down from father to son in the profession of “paritaru” (“parite” in Salento dialect means wall).

Over time the walls have evolved and the functions they have performed are innumerable. There are the walls dating back to the Messapi era with a structure of squared blocks placed horizontally, the patrician ones which carried out the task of delimiting estates and farms belonging to families of great name, those of the common people, built by the farmer himself to delimit the small property called chisùra.

Construction techniques

The construction technique requires that the base of the wall is made up of two rows of large stones, then the smaller stones are set upwards and, finally, the small cracks are closed with small fragments of rock. Stone slabs placed edge-to-edge close the wall at the end, once the desired height has been reached.

• There is a particularity of walls, called “paralupi walls” built to face wolves (once very frequent in our territory).

• The “walls” which, in particular, enclose some farms, present an element that differentiates them from other dry stone walls. The terminal area of the wall is in fact made up of a raised curb made with large flat stones (“cappeddhi“), which protrude from the wall (outwards), so as to prevent wild animals from climbing and penetrating inside the enclosure, where there are tasty domestic animals: rabbits, chickens, etc.

These stone embroideries are a tangential example of the union between man and nature: aesthetically, in fact, it often happens to notice how between one stone and another there is the presence of fauna and flora, which are an important element of ecological diversification and landscape. The color of the rock, tending towards white, thus mixes with green, and offers a pleasant play of colors that express the beauty of the Salento land.

Many will have noticed, especially in the Apulian countryside or at abandoned airports, perforated metal grills and will have wondered what they are or where they came from. They are nothing more than artefacts dating back to the Second World War period, today reused to create gates and fences on private properties, mostly peasants: their name is Grelle.

History and uses of the Grelle

Even today it is possible to see Grelle used as railings, fences and gates, especially in farms or old homes. Traces of it can also be found at the landing strips of disused military airports (such as in San Pancrazio Salentino, Leverano, Galatina or Manduria).

In fact, this is the reason why they arrived in Puglia during the Second World War. Aviators used them to quickly set up landing or taxiways for aircraft. In just one week, at the time, it was possible to set up a thousand meter runway.

“Marston mats” was the other name by which the Grelle were known in America, in honor of the city in North Carolina, near the Camp Mackall airport. It is precisely here that the grates were produced and tested in 1941. Being made of a very resistant metal and due to the holes, they allowed them to stick perfectly to the ground, even if the track was wet. This also allowed it to be used to cross inaccessible areas where war vehicles would have sunk or to set up small temporary bridges.

Immediately after the war, however, the Americans abandoned this “bulky” material and this represented a real fortune for the Apulian farmers who, having emerged from the world conflict, had to somehow start again. Many of these Grelle were sold to foundries while others, worked by blacksmiths, were transformed into railings, fences and gates. From that moment on they still resist in many Apulian countryside.

When you happen to see these curious perforated metal grids from now on, you will know that they are none other than the Grelle, the “Pierced Steel Planking” (PSP), developed by American ingenuity and from the United States which reached Puglia.

It’s in Presicce that we find the greatest number of hypogean oil mills in Salento dug into the stone, called trappeti. Here, there was an intense production of olive oil, the main economic source since ancient times. The oil mill or “trappeto” derives from the name that the ancient Romans gave to the machine for pressing olives to separate the stone from the pulp.

When they were born and how they worked

• Their birth can be dated to the 11th-13th centuries; the first were built on the Pozzomauro greenhouse. The typology of the traps in that area is simple, being dug into the tuff rock and with a dirt floor.

• Starting from the 19th century, the underground oil mills were gradually abandoned, above all due to industrial evolution, and replaced by semi-underground or elevated oil mills.

• Since the 1990s, some of them have become tourist destinations through some reclamations and renovations; public bodies and protection bodies have worked to recover these real finds.

Also called “green gold mines“, they have produced fine olive oil since ancient times, starting from the exclusive fruits of the centuries-old olive trees. The reason why the production took place in the rock is given by the fact that the economy and trade of oil took the place of that of wheat; furthermore, the underground environment ensured better conservation of the oil and kept it away from enemy eyes.

Team of workers who worked on the process of this precious good was called “ciurma” (crew) or also “trappitari“, who operated under the guidance of the supervisor called “nachiro“. The ciurma or trappitari worked for the entire period between November and May, living inside the oil mill, without ever leaving, except for the most important holidays.

A fundamental role was also played by animals; the latter were placed in the stables. In another room, the “sciave” (olive storage) were placed, before they were crushed by the wheel (turned by a blindfolded mule) and then pressed.

How were the hypogean oil mills in Salento structured?

Each oil mill is made up of organic and functional environments with notable aesthetic and architectural interest: storage areas, living rooms, work areas, kitchen areas, dormitories and the stable. The construction scheme was always the same; a staircase dug into the rock and covered with a barrel vault led to a large main room, where the grinding and pressing operations took place.

The grindstone rested on a circular platform of hard limestone; around this central part there were a series of small rooms including the rooms intended for the rest of the workers, the tool storage, the stable for the animals and the rooms for storing the oil.

These rooms had no direct light, except for one or two holes in the center of the main vault. In these environments the milling work was very long; it ran from November until after Easter.

But why were the oil mills underground?

The most commonly known reason why the oil mill dug into the stone was preferred to the one built on the ground floor was the need for heat. The oil becomes solid around 6°C. Therefore, in order to simplify its extraction, it is advisable that the environment in which the pressing takes place is warm and constant. This could only be ensured in an underground environment heated by lights lit day and night, by the fermentation of olives and above all by the heat produced by the toil of men and animals.

In addition to this, the economic reasons should not be underestimated; the cost of labor to obtain an excavated environment was relatively modest because it did not require the construction work of specialized personnel, but only arm strength, not involving purchase and transport costs of the construction material.

Role of hypogean oil mills in Salento today

The presence of the trappeti in the various centers of Salento is historical.

• In Gallipoli, housed in the basement of Palazzo Granafei in the historic centre, the 1600 oil mill can be visited.

• In Noha near Galatina, in front of the castle door there is the Casale oil mill; a 300m2 space that houses a seat carved into the rock with a vault covered in stalactites.

• But Presicce holds the record thanks to the high number of underground oil mills created between the 18th and 19th centuries. Over 30 underground oil mills, hidden under the main square, produced oil exported to all European markets.

The underground oil mills in Salento are evidence of a thousand-year-old civilization as well as representing an important part of the economic and social culture of the area.