It was inaugurated in 2009 and occupies three areas of the castle. In room no. 1 of the museum, on the first floor, there are several guide lines explaining the origins of the paper Mache art that dates back to the XVIII century and the history of some of the greatest local artisans such as, Surgente, Gallucci, Caretta, Capoccia, Errico , Mazzeo, Guacci , Indino and Malecore.
The paper Mâché art uses simple materials such as, paper, gypsum and wheat paste but has reached priceless levels here more than anywhere else in the world
There are some places that contain the history of a place, one of them is the MUST- ( Museo Storico della città di Lecce) a former convent recently restored. It was originally the St. Chiara convent, today Museum and cultural container for modern art gallery on the ground floor. Located in the heart of the historic center of the town close to the St. Chiara church and the Roman Theater, the ancient monastry was founded in 1410 by Tommaso Ammiratona member of the francisan confraternity and Bishop of lecce from 1429 to 1438. Other historic sources claim that the Monastry foundation was wanted by the rich Antonio di Giovanni de Ferraris who gave most his heritages to the Clarissa nuns. The re opening of the site has given Lecce an important cultural meeting center to local citizens.
The archaeological “Faggiano Museum” is located in an historic building of the town historic center.
In 2001 during the renovation activities of the same building some historic findings were discovered. All the digging activities were supervised by the ” Soprintendenza” of Taranto and during the subsequent activities an interesting rocky bank of the Ist century was discovered.
On the first floor of the building there is also an area used for food and wine tastings, and on request the whole building can also be rented for meetings, events and exhibitions.
The archaeological Sigismondo Castromediano Museum is the oldest in Apulia; it was founded by the Duke of Cavallino Sigismondo Castromediano in 1868 and contains several Roman and Messapian findings all brought to light in areas close to the Roman theater and ampitheater in Lecce.
In the prehistoric room there is the recreation of the “Grotta dei cervi” in Porto Badisco and its cave paintings.
On the first floor gallery there are some Byzantine and Venetian paintings made by local painters from the Middle ages until XVIII century(Bartolomeo, Vivarini, Paolo Finoglio, Pacecco De Rosa, Agostino Beltrano, Antonio Verrio and Oronzo Tiso).
A specific area is dedicated the so called lower arts like ceramics, bronzes, vases, silvers and ivories of the baroque period.
The Apulian Railway Museum contains 32 vintage trains (national and local) plus five other vintage coaches. There are also other relics and signalling devices
The Diocesan Museum of the sacred art is situated in the ancient Seminary palace; it contains religious paintings, sculptures and vestments that cover several centuries of the religious history of the town. There are also several paintings from the end of the XVth century untill the XVIIIth, among them the famous Madonna del Carmine and Madonna del Rosario made by the leccese painter Oronzo Tiso.other impressive paintings are also “The St. Orsola faith” by Paolo Finoglio and the “Pasce oves meas” by N. Poussin. The collection is enriched by sculptures and silverware part of the Cathedral treasure between the XVIIth and the XVIIIth centuries. Noteworthy the silver Eucharistic exhibiting by Gaetano Starace.
The University of Salento Archaeological Museum MUSA is a cultural container displaying all the researche results led by historians and archaeologists of the Salento University.
The Roman Theater Museum was wanted by the Memmo Foundation and is located in a XVI th century Palace. Museum contains some findings brought to light at the beginning of the XXth century during the excavation activities and some scale models of Lecce during the roman period.
Remarkable the nine masks coming from Villa Adriana Tivoli and another scale model of the old Lupiae