Lecce, chief town of province, is located between the Adriatic Sea and the Ionic Sea. Lecce, refined and aristocratic city, spiritual and intellectual rather than economical and commercial, has its class that comes from centuries of civil life. For the beauty and richness of its monuments and for faith to its traditions, Lecce was said "Athens of the Puglie". Thanks to its baroque style it has deserved the appellative of "Firenze of the South".
In fact, in the local seventeen century style, it is possible to appreciate the very rich sculptural motives done with the tender stone from Lecce. The old town enclosed by what is left of the ancient walls, bears the impression of that exuberant period.
In Lecce, the presence of several religious orders, gave rise to a procession of churches of which the façades are magnificent like open air altars, real windows of the society of that period. The secret of the baroque style is in the stone from Lecce: a marble limestone with a compact and homogeneous grain, but so tender that it is possible to work on it with a chisel and a hatchet. It was used to make twisted columns, sumptuous frames, pierced balusters, frontons, flower and fruit vases, fluttering ribbons, putti and big masques.
Sea and beaches
In little more than 40 km, the coastal strip boasts of some of the most beautiful seaside cities in Puglia, all of which have fishing harbours and docks for pleasure craft. In the tract between Margherita di Savoia and Trani, the coast is sandy, with large, crowded and well-equipped beaches at the seaside resorts of Margherita di Savoia and Barletta.
In the south, the physiography of the coast changes at Trani and Bisceglie, where it is rocky with cliffs that alternate with pebble beaches at the mouths of the flood grounds. For this reason, the tract of sea between these two cities is a deep blue, a different shade than the typical Adriatic green of the sandy zones farther north.
The shore is defended by valuable Aragonese coastal towers – Petra Tower, the Tower of the Salines, site of the Museum of the Salines; Ofanto Tower, the afore-mentioned Olivieri Tower – and, in Trani, by the splendid Saint Mary of Colonna monastery.
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