Lecce is considered to be the Florence of the South (Italy). But honestly, it looks nothing like Firenze- nary a Renaissance building or River or iconic bridge or world renowned art museum in sight. But what one does see is a city celebrating it’s own renaissance about 200 years after the one in Firenze. Under the Spanish Bourbon royal family, palazzi and churches with elaborate facades of the characteristic golden Lecce stone (limestone) were built to celebrate the power of this dynasty and as a reaction to the Protestant Reformation of the early 16th century. The intricate, over-the-top Baroque style predominates in the church facades, as well as the altars of the Duomo, Chiesa di Santa Chiara and Chiesa di Santa Croce. As the craft of papier-mâché (cartapesta) is still practiced by artisans in Lecce, many of the church statues are not composed of marble or granite but of paper, straw and a pasty glue.
We arrived around 10:30 and were guided by Carlo, who showed us the aforementioned churches, as well as the seminary museum, Roman theater and Roman amphitheater, the last of which is located right in the center of the main piazza.
Around 1 pm, we had a lunch of a tagliere (charcuterie plate), eggplant parmigiana, fava bean purée, cichoria, and a potato casserole and a pasticciotto for dessert. We then had the next three hours free.
We decided to visit the Feltrinelli book store, one of the few open for business during the traditional afternoon “pausa” that generally lasts from 1:30 to 4:30 pm. I purchased a historical novel, written in Italian. Then we went wild in the taralli store. Taralli are round crunchy snacks, larger than a cheerio, that are traditional in this part of Italy. They are a great accompaniment to an aperivo. This shop has a huge selection of both sweet and savory and we ended up with peperoncino, pistacchio, mixed sweet variety and a black pepper and almond type.
We then went to Cafe Alvino, known for the caffè leccese- espresso over ice served with latte di mandorle- for aperitivo. At the appointed time, we boarded our minibus back to the masseria where Sarah and some of our group prepared a potluck dinner of two pastas (orecchiette with sausage, capers, grapes and yellow pepper and a fettuccine al limone), meatballs, salads, prosciutto, cheeses and local wines.
After dinner, a few of us just hung around chatting about history and politics and our trip.
Camino Musings 