Hello from Lecce, Italy!

We arrived in Lecce, the capital of Salento, on October 23, and have been enjoying it, and the surrounding areas, for a good 10 days. There is a lot to experience, including wine, olive oil farms, churches, caves, and above all, the sea.

Lecce is an ancient city, suprisingly, neither on a hill nor on the sea, which you may have noticed, is unusual in Italy. However it is an area rich in natural beauty, and I gather the Romans agreed and decided it good place to throw down some roots. To that end, there are two spectacular ruins in Lecce; an ampitheathere (where they had the gladiator versus animal scenario) and a regular theatre (where they put on plays). The ampitheatre is right in the middle of old town, which is stunning, as its outline is clearly intact. (See photos) However, as the days went by, I found myself becoming somewhat blaise about the amazing, oh yeah.... there are those ruins over there, as I sipped my wine, or cappucino and glanced over. (BTW, did you know that only Americans drink cappucinos in the afternoon? Italians only drink it in the morning.)

But the Romans were not the first inhabitants of this place. And nothing shows this better than the Museo Faggiano. This museum is in the house of Mr Faggiano, who bought it in 1984. In the early 2000's he wanted to fulfill a dream and open a trattoria (pizzeria) in it, but, during renovations, the toliet kept backing up. No matter what the plumbers did, the sewer problem continued to dog progress. So.... they dug up the floor, and what they found was .... AMAZING!

The Faggiano family home contained a treasure trove of history! As Faggiano and his sons dug for the pipes, slowly, 2500 years of history revealed itself, under and within, his building. Expert archaelogists were brought in to help verify the finds which included: a foundation dating to the Messapian civilization about 500 BC, Roman walls, Roman crypts buried in the stone floor, Knights Templar symbols carved in the stone walls, mosaics hidden behind plaster walls, along with remains from a medieval cloister for nuns. They also found tunnels that were dug under the building to escape the invading Normans and Turks. And that is the story of how Mr. Faggiano went from being a potential pizzeria owner to the curator of a world famous museum.

After settling in a bit into Lecce, we renewed contact with our newest friend, Mary Ellen, from Santa Barbara, CA. We had bumped into her at the train station in Alberobello, and had a lot to talk about, as she is also traveling for the long haul. (She travels 3-6 months every year! ) So we signed up for walking tours and day trips with Mary Ellen, and she became our new dining companion. Steve even cooked a lovely pasta dinner in our Airbnb, and invited her to join us. Thank you Mary Ellen for sharing your warm spirit and enthusiasm with us!

We had two day trips ( one with Mary Ellen, before she moved on to Palermo, and one without). On the first, we had a driver, Matteo, who drove us to four costal destinations; Otranto, Castro, Santa Maria di Leuca, and Gallipoli. Otranto was remarkable for an amazing mosaic on the floor a church. Constructed in about 1100 AD, and entitled the "Tree of Life", it was humongous, covering the entire cathedral floor. And it was in near perfect condition, which is all the more startling, because the place was sacked in 1480, by the Turks, in a gruesome way. The Turks made landfall and proceeded to kill and mutilate everyone. However, the bishop, and 800 of his closest friends, holed up in the cathedral (the same one with the gorgeous mosaic floor), and held out for months against the intruders. Alas, in the end, the bishop and his buddies were overwhelmed, and beheaded for good measure. Then the bishop's head was paraded around town on a stick, demonstrating the manly powers of the victorious Turks; and now, you too, can see the 800 heads on display in the cathedral. As this trip has demonstrated, human history is chock-full of these "charming" stories. In fact, there is still an Italian saying that translates to "Mama, the Turks are Coming" that most Italians are well-aware of, "Mama li Turchi"!

We then travelled further south on the Adriatic coast, taking in the beautiful and the historic ( See photos). The day was gorgeous, and we took a boat tour that carried us into the caves at the bottom of the heel of Italy (See Steve's video under video tab). Next, we followed the Ionian Coast to Galopolli, a little (well-fortified) port town, where we walked on the beach. Beautiful day, indeed!

I would to like to wrap up this post by telling you about the second day trip, which was put on by Marialba of Tourango in Lecce. This was a custom tour designed to have "Human Experiences' with the people of Solento. It was awesome. Not inexpensive, but awesome. We were paired wtih Francesco, a phD educated naturalist from Salento, who hiked with us in a reserve where the former bottom of the ocean is now on land and filled with fossils, and clues to the nature of the earths past. (See photos and more descriptions with those photos). After this, Francesco drove us to a working farm where the olive harvest was in full-swing. We met Marta and her sisiter, who are the NINTH generation running the farm. We "helped" with the harvest by combing the olives from the trees, and learned the art of olive oil tasting. They also fed us a spectacular lunch of local food from their garden. (See photos). Fantastic day and highly recommended if you ever find yourself in Salento.

Our Take: Southern Italy is full of great food and wine, charming people, blue skies, and natural beauty. Highly recommended.