Special Tour of Lecce

Lecce was called City – Church for the many religious structures that between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries have been built in the city. But walking through the narrow streets of the old town you can find another type of religiosity, which has borne fruit less monumental, but no less important to know the devotional practice of the last centuries. It is the numerous shrines, places of worship representing most popular religiosity, that in fact the citizens of Lecce which over the centuries have wanted to “mark” a street, intersection, their homes, with the figure of the saint to whom they were more devotees. The kiosk can be built in a public place, often near a church, but more often it is made in the walls of a private mansion, or within the courtyards, and even today there are many places of worship, as well attests to the fact that cleaned, restored, ornate. Statues of wood, stone, frescoes and still many works in papier mache representing saints more certificates in Salento and constitute a very interesting historical background on the history of our saints and hagiographical on devotional practice of the last centuries.

Sant’Oronzo become patron of the city for loosening it from the plague in 1656. But the Ghost is a personage oldest , that the tradition dates back to Roman times and the first spread of Christianity in the Salento. Before military saint, it becomes the ‘600 the protector of epidemics and, after such period, its miraculous qualities are expanded becoming protector from earthquakes, lightning etc. The history of St. Horace and the spread of his cult in Lecce meets a specific religious project by Bishop Luigi Pappacoda and well you can read in the many representations of the saint that we find in the city.

ll know the current coat of arms of the city, a she-wolf in front of a holm oak tree crown, but few perhaps know what the history of this and that in the past, for a short period, Lecce had another coat.
The coat of arms represents the city to the outside, it is the image, the history and evolution. It therefore has a semantic value that does not just legends and traditions more or less reliable.
And always talking of “image” the itinerary is also built on the various representations of the city that still can be seen strolling in the old town and built in the seventeenth century. These images tell us, like the coat of arms, which were, in different historical periods, the elements representing the city and identified the outer eye.

New research in the Castle of Lecce, mistakenly referred to by Charles V, have shed new light not only on the work carried out in the sixteenth century by Gian Giacomo Achaia, but the life of the castle and the entire town in medieval times.
The route moves outside the walls to admire those traits of the fortifications that still can be observed and the monumental gates to the city, which have now lost all their medieval appearance, reflecting the taste and the meanings that the city wanted give them the sixteenth century to the present.

The history of a city is built by the people who have inhabited that contributed to its growth, economic, political and cultural reflected on the architecture itself. The last route we propose then, after getting to know the various facets of Lecce, is a path to the discovery of his “famous men“, those characters who built the history of our city, from Norman Conti, with Tancredi , up to men of the Renaissance, who have made their contribution to the unification of Italy. These characters are represented in the numerous busts in the Villa of Lecce, made by local artists, just to create an important place where the city’s identity is reflected and take root in the characters that have made the city as we see it today.

Walking through the historic center of Lecce, within the four ancient quarters, we admire churches, convents and palaces that tell the history of architecture and art in the city. Once in Piazza Sant’Oronzo almost disturbs the look “modern”, the twentieth-century, the buildings that surround the square.
A place, the old Piazza dei Mercanti, but, perhaps more than any other area of the old town, can tell the history of this city. Since peri-urban area in Roman times, when it built the monumental amphitheater, a “citadel” in early medieval, until beating heart, the city’s economic from the late Middle Ages to the modern age, surrounded by the foreign presence, which right to trade they lived in our city: the Venetians, Genoese, Jews, Albanians, Greeks and many others. Not only commercial hub, but also administrative: here was placed the Government Palace, remembered in its functions from the loggia of the seat, and still on the square is now the Town Hall, Palazzo Carafa. And because of its central role the square will be chosen in the first half of the twentieth century to represent the fascist ideology with the imposing structures of the INA Palace and other buildings of similar style, in perfect continuation of the great Roman Empire, its exalted in the same year from the excavation of the amphitheater.

The buildings of Lecce civil offer to visitors loads of details finely carved into the soft local stone : coats of arms, statues, masks, garlands of flowers applications on the shelves of the balconies and window frames and portals, or the corners of buildings. Rich decoration testifying to the inexhaustible creativity of the stonemasons and the willingness of the owners to exalt themselves through figurative language full of symbolism.
Among these elements decorative high semantic occupies a special place the corner column, which most often holds family crests, but also statues of saints. Mail as edge, between the facades and urban space, is an important element of communication between the owners of the building and the outside.

Multivision is the train that can walk the streets of the historic center of Lecce, telling the suggestions. While sitting on the edge, it is possible, through prepared earphones, listening to the commentary to the path (by choosing the translation between 8 languages available), so that tells the fascinating history of the city and the people who have made it unique in Italy through the monuments, palaces and courts. The ticket, valid for 24 hours, offers the opportunity for passengers to get on and get off the train at any point on the course, to go into the streets and squares, to appreciate the beauty of baroque Lecce. The detailed map of the historic center, attached to the official guide of the tour Multivision, allowing you to follow and continue the journey to discover wonderful corners. Admire the architectural beauties guarded in Lecce and in the Salento is a unique experience that becomes memorable only if lived capturing the essence of the culture of these places. The warm hospitality, a sign of an ancient culture, rooted in the people who live here and who are the soul of this land; the tradition is still alive, is narrated through the handicrafts made by skilled hands, both in the countless festivals and celebrations that color and animate the summer days; the cuisine that offers delights for the palate and the eyes made of gradients in poor but skillfully blended. People, stories and landscapes that leave enchanted, irresistibly fascinated, able to make your holiday unforgettable from the hearts of those who, in addition to seeing the beautiful, living the best of this culture antic.

Contatti

Multivision s.r.l.

Via dei Mocenigo, 12 – 73100 Lecce

info@iltreninoturisticolecce.it

http://www.treninoturisticolecce.it/

0832.246517

0832.279962

A journey that reveals an enchanted and hidden around the corner from the historic center of the city, guardian of fragments of history and memories of lives lived.
The Monumental Cemetery of Lecce, built in the second half of the nineteenth century in accordance with the provisions which required the construction of cemeteries outside the perimeter of the city walls, is a concentration of artistic and architectural trends that tell the different culture of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. A fascinating journey between the neoclassical architecture, Gothic and Egyptian style of the chapels, through a complex of monuments Cemetery populated with symbols and inscriptions that refer to classical mythology and the world beyond.

Guided tour of the historic center of the town discovering its origins from Messapian Roman period to the splendour of the renaissance and baroque times Itinerary:. Napoli Gate, Duomo square, the Cathedral, Bishop Palace, St. Irene church, St. Oronzo square, Roman amphiteater, Santa Croce basilica and Celestini Palace. Tour lasts 2 hrs approx

Guided tour of a XV century Palazzo located in the historic center of the town. The palazzo is still furnished in renaissance style and contains precious objects belonging to the different families who have owned the palazzo since 1540. Note the amazing XVIII century garden on the groundfloor.

Guided tour of Lecce: 100€
Visit to the room of the wonderies: 5€/per person
Visit to the Palazzo and the room of the wonderies: minimum 10 participants: 8€/per person
Visit to the palazzo and brunch in the garden- only for groups( minimum 10 participants) 20€/per person

Guided tour of the historic center of the town discovering its origins from Messapian Roman period to the splendour of the renaissance and baroque times Itinerary:. Napoli Gate, Duomo square, the Cathedral, Bishop Palace, St. Irene church, St. Oronzo square, Roman amphiteater, Santa Croce basilica and Celestini Palace. Tour lasts 2 hrs approx..

The paper maché lab gives the opportunità to learn how making papier maché products; the papier maché art is one of the oldest Salentine traditions.
Class lasts: 1 hr approx.
Costs of the service: from 2 to 4 participants: 150€
from 5 to 9 participants: 200€

Guided tour of the historic center of the town discovering its origins from Messapian Roman period to the splendour of the renaissance and baroque times. Itinerary: Napoli Gate, Duomo square, the Cathedral, Bishop Palace, St. Irene church, St. Oronzo square, Roman amphiteater, Santa Croce basilica and Celestini Palace. Tour lasts 2 hrs approx..

Guided tour of the Castle to discover its medieval and renaissance period beauties. GuidedTour includes the visit to the St. Barbara Chapel, the internal courtyard, the M. d’Enghien hall and the medieval towers. Guided tour to the underground galleries of the castle which were part of the medieval moat then transformed into underground galleries that linked the bulwarks’basements during XVI century .
. Tour lasts 1 hr approx.
Cost of the service: 130€ (for 2 or 4 participants) 160€ (5 to 9 participants group)

Guided tour of the historic center of the town discovering its origins from Messapian Roman period to the splendour of the renaissance and baroque times Itinerary:. Napoli Gate, Duomo square, the Cathedral, Bishop Palace, St. Irene church, St. Oronzo square, Roman amphiteater, Santa Croce basilica and Celestini Palace. Tour lasts 2 hrs approx…

Wine and food tasting (pasticciotto, friselline and so on) . 30 mins approx.
Cost of the service: from 2 to 4 participants: 130€
from 5 to 9 participants: 170€

Theatrical guided tours of the castle of Charles v

Visitors will be greeted at the gates of the castle by a guide/actor and, along the way to visit, meet different characters in period costumes that accompany the present along the halls and medieval towers upstairs, playing the main historical figures have lived here over the centuries, and then conclude the visit in the basement of the castle, recently it made accessible to the public.

Theatrical tours in the historic center of Lecce

Actors in period costumes, will perform various characters that surprise will lead visitors in exploring the beauty of the place, its history and its anecdotes. You will perform real inroads theater that will amaze the audience and, through interaction possible between participants and the actors themselves, will bring to live the experience of visiting the city in an active and participatory.