Tag: lecce

Italy, Lecce 2026 – post 3

by ginnyinshanghai

My first Lecce post I mentioned stairs. Let’s revisit that point. Upon walking into the apartment, these steps greeted you.

You turned the corner and found these steps.

You were then in the living space, with more stairs leading up to the bedrooms.

Walking through the archway, led to these steps.

And we weren’t done yet. These were the final 3 steps to our bedroom. The thing we chuckled about, you had to step down to get into our bedroom. Yep, another step!

Enough about stairs. I have one more church to talk about before leaving Lecce. Truth be told, we visited several more churches in this town, but you’ll have to visit on your own to see those. 🙂

The Basilica of Santa Croce Lecce was built where a monastery stood in the 14th century. In 1549, a new church was begun, using, among others, houses from Jews who had been ousted from Lecce in 1510. The construction dragged on for two centuries; by 1582, the lower façade had been finished but work continued on other pieces of the basilica before finally being finished.

Loved the dragon. There was symbolism everywhere, really too much. The animals under the balustrade would symbolize the Christian powers which participated in a battle: the dragon was the symbol of the Boncompagni, family of Pope Gregory XIII: the griffon the Republic of Genoa, Hercules the grand Duke of Tuscany. I only captured the dragon.

But I may have found the griffon and Hercules in the photo below (to the left of the dragon). I was sorting through which photos to include and maybe, just maybe I got lucky?

So when we walked to the church one morning, individuals were blocking the doorways and we couldn’t get in. Why? A wedding was being held. We seem to keep running into weddings. We think this was the 3rd one we encountered during our Europe trips. Got a quick shot of the bride after the ceremony. I didn’t know why the bundle of greenery was brought along. It came from inside the church and was going with the wedding party. Checked the internet and found this explanation: Italian weddings often emphasize natural beauty. Hanging vines and greenery branches enhance the romantic ambience for vows and photography. Now I know. (I think?)

Inside the church, the ceiling was striking.

The church has seventeen altars: the main one has a decorated portal with the coat of arms of the Adorni family, whose tombs were inside the basilica. I believe the photo below is the alter described.

A lot of gold and red really drew your attention.

This was one of the last altars before exiting.

Here’s a closeup view of one of the cherubs seen above.

Okay, that was the last church I’m going to talk about (in Lecce).

Eric had been visiting this bar – Quanto Basta – half a block from our apartment. One afternoon Adrienne went with him and raved about a grapefruit drink. I was curious enough to visit with them.

Why the carrot in the above photo? They were part of the munchies brought with your drinks: popcorn and carrot sticks. Not typical bar food that I was used to, but it worked.

Going back to the grapefruit drink…….it was pretty tasty. I agreed with Adrienne, it went down v.e.r.y smoothly.

We wanted our last evening in Lecce to be a special meal and that happened by going back to La Spore.

No surprise, Eric had been making friends.  Somehow (?) they heard about him being a FOH F&B manager and possibly the bartenders at the bar next door…………….saw him on U-Tube?  Maybe? I don’t know how that ‘randomly’ happened.  Ha!  We could be seated with no reservations at La Spore as long as we vacated our table by 9:30 pm – it was 6:30pm when we walked over.  No problem.   

Like normal, we shared a number of appetizers.   The hummus dip was still one of my favorites.

Menu selections were pasta and eggplant.

Eric meant to order these meat balls, but there was a communication miss.  He said he was very happy with the eggplant, but guess what arrived shortly?  Yep, the meatballs.  I tasted them. I guess that’s one of the benefits with being short-term friends with the locals. They were good.

We wanted to finish the meal with dessert so we chose these two.

egg cake with fruit filling
tiramisu

The owner continued to check in with us throughout the evening and agreed to a photo to commemorate our experience. 

It was a very nice evening with (new) good friends and good food.  I was even convinced to order wine for our meal.

While Adrienne and I headed back to the apartment, Eric stopped back in the corner bar for a last evening with his new friends.  I really liked Lecce.

Ginny

Italy, Lecce 2026 – post 2

by ginnyinshanghai

We went back to the Lecce Cathedral in the morning going inside for the full tour.  While the first documents indicate the existence back to the Norman period, the old building was demolished to make way for the new cathedral in the mid-16th century.  At this point the square was given a new monumental appearance fitting for one of the most important artistic and cultural centers in Southern Italy. 

These statues flank the entrance to the plaza.

They are saints or Fathers of the Church and give the impression they are guarding the entrance.

The cathedral has a Latin cross with three naves divided by pilasters and columns, and the main altar is placed at the eastern end of the church. The central nave and the transepts covered by a wooden ceiling with coffers created in 1685.  This was our first wooden ceiling and it was fantastic – The Last Supper.

Each of the altars was more decorative than the last one.  There was a lot of detail everywhere!

I’m sure you could come back every day for years and find something new. This scene was above one of the side altars.

Near the pulpit was a staircase leading to an underground area containing the hidden jewel of the Cathedral:  the crypt. The cross vaults inside are supported by a veritable forest of columns.  Each of the 92 capitals featured a different decoration of medieval inspiration.  I sooooo wanted to take photos but I respected the wish of the church for this sacred spot – no photos.

Next door was the bell tower.  The tower was constructed in 1661–1662 and was built to replace the previous Norman bell tower, which crumbled at the beginning of the 17th century.

It has a square shape and appears to be made up of five tapered levels, the last of which is topped by an octagonal majolica, on which there is an iron statue of a local saint.

The bell tower offers views of the Adriatic Sea, and on clear days even the mountains of Albania are visible. It was hazy the day we visited. so no sea or mountains.

It was s.u.p.e.r windy on the day we went to the top.  The only way we got Eric up there…….in 2022 a modern lift provided access to the balconies on the third floor. No steps for him but he will do an elevator. Ha!

Lecce is also the spot of a Roman amphitheater that is being excavated and offers a glimpse into the city’s history as a Roman resort and trading port. 

The amphitheater which could hold 15,000 spectators was hidden from view until 1901 when construction began on a bank. Not sure what happened with the bank, but I would guess they weren’t exactly thrilled that the land they were going to build upon, would not be an archeological site.

All this running around was creating an appetite. Time to find some nourishment. This was our stop for a lunch.

Can I just say……very interesting placemats. Yes, those are records.

These homemade chips were a starter, getting us ready for the main course – one of my favorites.

Pizza!

Bufalo mozzerella
Anchovies & olives

There’s one more church I want to mention in this post – Chiesa di San Matteo. The Church of San Matteo was built between 1667 and 1700 to replace the ancient chapel of S. Mattero, now small and in mediocre condition.  This turned into one of my favorite churches.

I read that this church embodies the canons of the Baroque style so much that it has earned the title ‘the pantheon of Lecce Baroque’. 

The perimeter of the interior is marked by twelve columns on which statues of the apostles stand.  Each represented something specific about that apostle – could be their origin, what they stood for or where they ended. This church had an excellent audio guide & map sharing descriptive information.

The weather was so gorgeous we enjoyed walking around the town and found this city park. Kids were playing on a playground, others had brought a book to read and a few couples were sitting quietly taking it all in.

Barely noticeable, but Adrienne and Eric were in the background of the photo. There was a bridge that connected the space between the fountains.

Those two followed me around while I got photos of flowers. The redbud trees were starting to bloom – something we can’t grow in Florida. Kind of cool that flowers could be seen along the trunk of the tree, not only on the branches. Yep, there is Eric and Adrienne in the background again.

Eric found an interesting place for supper and made reservations earlier that day. Once the sun started to set, the temps went down quickly. He needed to go back to the apartment for warmer clothes. Our apartment was a few doors behind him.

Tonight we headed to Vico dei Sotteranei.

They are described as a cozy restaurant in the historic town center sourcing local ingredients and paying attention to the details, mixing in tradition with innovation. Nice. Those two drank some of the local wine while I went for a local blonde ale beer – it was a nice change for me.

Some snacks arrived while we waited for our appetizer. The olives, round italian crackers and the olive spread – which was excellent by the way. The carrots………..let’s just say that Adrienne has a love/hate relationship with carrots. Actually, it’s hate/hate relationship! No way is she going to eat a carrot.

We started with a smoked swordfish carpaccio with burrata cheese, walnuts and roasted fruits. Not exactly my thing, however I did like the cheese and the fruit.

Adrienne and Eric both ordered the 40-day dry-aged beef with sauteed vegetables. They loved it.

I ordered the ‘sfoglia’ – fresh sheet pasta with slow-cooked beef, pecorino cheese, smoked paprika and rosemary essence. It was okay. I ate most of the beef and left the pasta – I was getting full.

But what made the meal memorable……………..the dessert. They were called spumone but was nothing like any of us had ever eaten. We ordered two but I only got one photo, you couldn’t really tell them apart, until after you started eating them. Technically they were called Spumone al pistacchio, nocciole e cuore al croccante and Spumone al cioccolato fondente con copeta e fichi.

Looks kind of unassuming right? It didn’t matter what they were called, we ate every last crumb. Once you broke through the outer layer of ice cream, more flavors and goodies were inside. Delicious!

Walking home was quick and easy. Sharing the photo so you can see how narrow the streets were and we had to step aside for the cars and motorcycles to get by.

Ginny

Italy, Lecce 2026 – post 1

by ginnyinshanghai

Where and why Lecce? One of the reasons was that it doesn’t attract most Americans. Most have never heard of the city. Two, we will get to explore a part of Italy that we’ve never traveled – the southern section. Three, we will be able to travel by train, something not typically done in the states. Plans were made and set. Transportation routes were purchased and accommodations were booked.

Before leaving the U.S., Eric received an (Italian) email that there was a problem with our route as a portion was involved with a landslide/washout.  Not much we could do at this point but wait until we got there.  By the time of our departure, the train had been re-routed and while it was going to be a longer trip, no other problems with our booking.  Whew! 

There are two main sources of agricultural income in his point of Italy: wine and olive oil. We saw some amazing olive trees along the train route.

We arrived safe and sound! Lecce was the end of this route that started in Milano earlier that day.

It was an easy walk to our place, less than 10 minutes from the station. We can do it. Figuring out all of the instructions to get in, took a bit more time. Ha!

Two bedroom, two baths and a kitchen with this one having a working washing machine.

Bedrooms were above the living room.

Please notice the stairs, more on that later.

What we needed at this point (maybe ‘wanted’ was the better word) was some libations. Walked a block down the road and found a place that was open, only for drinks.

We were literally sitting behind the church at this point, the Lecce Cathedral. It was originally built in 1144, rebuilt in 1230 and restored in 1659. The facade is a masterpiece of Baroque art. One reason that Lecce is called the ‘Florence of the South’ because of the rich baroque architecture that abounds in this city.

We purchased multi-day tickets for our church visits during our stay. Not going to start our visits until the next day. Something that was rising to the top of our list……….dinner. This spot was highly rated and very close to our apartment.

We were one of the first to be seated, that’s us the American early bird diners, at 7pm.

We started with two similar appetizers. Nice presentation and very tasty.

This was said to be more typical of southern Italy. Still had the buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes, but a different type of mixture and herbs. This one was sitting on some Lecce bread, which was covered up by the cheese and can’t really be seen until you cut into the mozzarella cheese..

Next appetizer was soooo amazing, we had it several times during our stay: hummus with fava bean puree and local grilled mussels. O.M.G.

We only needed two entrees for the evening. Eric ordered a meat dish that was composed of beef, pork and horse cooked in a tomato sauce. He enjoyed it.

Adrienne ordered their grilled seafood platter. She was very happy. They both let me have a few bites from their selections. That was all I needed at this point.

Until it came time for dessert. Once again, we ordered two items but shared them all.

tiramisu
citrus cheesecake

Before turning in we went back to the Lecce Cathedral for an evening shot.

Nice way to end our first day in Lecce.

Ginny