In the heel of the boot shaped Italy, surrounded by the sea on three sides, with its end Santa Maria di Leuca Cape, looking toward the Africa, there is a land with very old historical origins, the Salento, once called Messapia during the iron age, Japigia for the ancient Greeks, Calabria for Romans, Terra d’Otranto in last centuries.

Landscape is wonderful from every point of view: green processions of olive groves, gardens geometrically perfect and well held, rows of wine from which are produced the beautiful Salento’s wines, big rocks, with the surface looking cut by big steel threads, from which is obtained the tender stone used to finely embellish prodigious aristocratic palaces and churches of Lecce and at the end wonderful sandy beaches, white, soft and dazzling or cliffs rising sheer from the sea, hiding fine and quiet inlets.

The Salento' capital is Lecce, the most elegant in the Southern Italy, where a rich historical heritage, from the cultural and artistic point of view, left several different tracks.

The soft limestone of Salento is also carved in the traditional workshops. Craftsmen’s -artists make several kinds of objects: candlesticks, potteries and others. All craftsmen work leccese stone using natural materials like sand and wood. Some craftsmen work the papier-maché, that is transformed in furnishing articles and also in carnival statues and characters.

To get to know the Salento district it is necessary to take two different itineraries, both departing from Lecce: the first along the a "Blue Riviera" of the Salentine towards Otranto, continuing after the Cape -- where the Adriatic meets the Ionian, on to Leuca; the second along the "Nirentine Riviera" on the Ionian Coast towards Nardò and Gallipoli.

Otranto is eastern-most tip of Italy. Otranto was, for many years, the most important centre of the entire Salento. Locally known as "the pearl of Salento" for its beaches, Otranto is rich in tourist facilities and sights, such as the old town - lined up with small outlets swarming with people - and the majestic Aragonese Castle.

Santa Maria di Leuca southern-most tip of Salento, is the place where the seas surrounding salentine coasts (Adriatic and Ionian ones) meet (at Punta Ristola). A lighthouse, 47 metres high and 102 metres above sea level, overlooks the town from a promontory. Its beacons are visible 26.5 miles away from the lighthouse.

Towards the farthest point of Italy's heel, beyond Cap of Otranto where the Adriatic waters blend with the Ionian Sea, Santa Cesarea Terme rises vertically on the reefs facing a crystal-clear and blue sea. Sheltered from cold winds by a barrier of small hills and heights in the Serra of Certignano, Santa Cesarea regularly enjoys for all the year long a temperate climate, almost springy-like in winter and fresh in summer, which grows mild thanks to a sea-breeze.

Between Diso and Santa Cesarea Terme the most important Grottos of the Salento Coast can be found: many legends arose all around them. The "Palombara", a shelter of undreds of woodpigeons; the "Zinzulusa", with the extraordinary stalagmite and stalactite formations and the indented laces of the entrance. The name of the Grotto originates from a dialect word: "zinzuli" which means "fringes". In effect. the calcareous concretions lowering down from the vaults are like fringes.

From Santa Cesarea, going through the most beautiful itinerary of the Salento Coast, these places can be visited: San Foca, the area of the Lakes Alimini, Porto Badisco, Castro, Tricase, Marina and Serra, Novaglie, Otranto, Leuca.

The itinerary from Leuca, Gallipoli offers the tourist a variety of wonders to behold. The Ionian coast of the Salentine region is crowned with an adornment of seaside resorts and beautiful beaches on a lapislazuli colored sea, limpid and serene. After Nardò, the ancient Niretum of Messapian origin which subsequently became a Roman municipality and later a Byzantine fortress, the home of an imposing Romanesque Cathedral, the Nirentian Riviera, dotted with marinas, beaches and pine forests extends on to Santa Caterina of Nardi, and Santa Maria al Bagno home of the "four pillars": Torre Suda, Torre Vado, Porto Cesareo and Gallipoli.

Gallipoli is known as the Queen of the low Ionian region. Among its attractions is the old town, located on a little island (connected to the city centre by a bridge), some wonderful churches and tthe "Castello Aragonese" (Aragonese Castle), standing out beside the fish market, seems to pop right out of the sea.