What to see in Salento
Bauxite Quarry
During your holidays in Salento, we recommend a visit to the beautiful Bauxite quarry, where you will find a very evocative landscape, with an emerald-coloured lake, red earth and lush vegetation in the cooler months. Today, the quarry and mining have been completely abandoned, which has allowed nature to recreate itself, giving rise to an ecosystem rich in flora and fauna all of its own.
Otranto
Also known as the “Porta d’Oriente”, Otranto is a beautiful town in Salento on the Adriatic side, known for being the most eastern point of Italy. Defined by Unesco as a ‘Witness to the Culture of Peace’, it preserves an ancient village, a place of encounter and cultural contamination between West and East.
Its historic centre is a marvellous tangle of narrow streets full of shops, workshops, restaurants and precious monuments. A perfect combination of man and nature, an all-Apulian pearl, ideal for a summer holiday, Otranto is a lively city all year round with which it is impossible not to fall in love.
Maldives of Salento
Just a few steps from Santa Maria di Leuca, there are seven kilometres of clear, fine sand, particularly between Torre Pali and Torre Vado, all waiting to be discovered. Turquoise waters, seabeds to admire, the Maldives of Salento are a place where sand dunes, acacia and tamarisk trees reign supreme, with a wide horizon, endless red sunsets where you can lose yourself in thought.
Some say it is the most beautiful sea in the south of Apulia because its beaches on this stretch of coast are reminiscent of those in a tropical paradise.
Castro
History, legend, nature and architecture make this small village an essential stop for those who are on holiday in Salento, and it is well worth a stroll through its streets and low houses that open onto balconies overlooking the sea. There are also shops and souvenir shops, ideal for a sightseeing walk. A diamond in the marvellous valley of red soil of the Salento, where there are also beautiful natural sites to be admired between baths.
Santa Maria di Leuca
Santa Maria di Leuca is one of the most fascinating seaside resorts ever, distinguished for being the town where the spectacular ‘embrace between the two seas’, Ionian and Adriatic, takes place.
In Leuca, you can admire the ancient patrician villas, stroll along its seafront promenade full of kiosks and markets, or book a beautiful exploration along the coast to discover the caves on the Adriatic and Ionian sides of this picturesque location.
Gallipoli
Further west and on the Ionian side, lies Gallipoli, a city of Messapic origin and part of the rich Magna Grecia, whose streets of the old town unravel within a small island surrounded by the walls of the old city.
Between cathedrals and churches of inestimable artistic and monumental beauty, Gallipoli is also unique for being an authentic maritime city. Its devotion to the sea and fishing is still visible today and remains one of the city’s main and most economically important activities. This is also demonstrated by the fish market, right inside the port area, aimed at private individuals, restaurateurs and tourists, where it is possible to buy not only fish but also decorative objects such as corals and shells.
