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THE "SALENTINE GREECE" |
  
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| Here we are in "Salentine Greece" (Calimera, Martano, Castrignano dei Greci, Melpignano, Corigliano d'Otranto, Soleto, Zollino, Sternatia, Martignano) where there are many signs of Greek-Byzantine civilization (dolmens, menhirs, crypts and churches amond the rocks). Greek civilization is very deeply rooted in these areas and many popular traditions linked with it still survive. The local dialect still spoken today is known as "griko". The love of popular Greek literature still survives at Calimera, where love songs and nostalgic funeral laments have been handed down over the centuries. In the east, Otranto welcomes us in a bay on the peninsula of Salento. It is also known as the "town of the holocaust" in memory of the eight hundred martyrs beheaded by the Turks in 1480. Visitors can admire the stupendous cathedral of 1080 with a fine fifteenth-century Gothic rose window on the façade, the crypt with its Greek pillars and Byzantine mosaics, the Castle with the Alfonsina tower and the ruins of the famous abbey of San Nicola at Casole, founded by the Basilian monks in the year 900 A.D.. Nearby is the impressive bay of Porto Badisco, world-famous for its caves with wall paintings of prehistoric times, and the area near the Alimini lakes where, during the period of bird migration, we can see white herons and glossy ibis, spoonbills and even mute swans in the waters among the reeds. To the south, on the slopes of a promontory, lies the picturesque little town of Castro which has an almost mediaeval layout (the old Castro Minervae or Minervium). It still has most of its fortifications dating back to the late sixteenth century. As we enter the town we see the Castle with a cylindrical tower and two square towers. Then we come to the former cathedral (twelfth century) which has preserved part of the façade, the transept and two side portals of its Romanesque construction. A short distance away we can find the spa of S.Cesarea Terme and the caves of Romanelli (with wall graffiti) and Zinzulusa. Following a road on a sheer cliff overlooking the sea we come to white Leuca (the old "Finibus terrae") on the Ristola point, the last little bit of Apulia that reaches out into the sea, swept by the north wind. Farther on, after passing clear waters where we can see the sea bed, sandy and rocky shores, beautiful Gallipoli lies on a promontory and an island surrounded by the Ionian Sea, linked together by a bridge. According to the Roman geographer Pomponius Mela, Callipolis (Kalè pòlis, that is beautiful town) was a Greek town. In the Roman period it was a municiptium. Its strategic position, made even stronger by the Castle, transformed it into a fortress. At the time of the Angevin conquest, 34 rebel barons barricaded themselves in the castle and held out for seven months against Charles of Anjou.
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