Lecce ~ part 1

 

Yesterday we drove 1.5 hours south to the city of Lecce almost to the tip of the heel of the boot 😊

Miles of vineyards and olives, some industrial sections, lovely villas, all with the Adriatic to our left.  Lecce is a big city and an important one.  It has been for most of its 2000 years. In the 3^rd century BC, the Romans took over this area, which was originally settled by the Messapians (ancient Apulians) and named it Lupiae. And then in the 2^nd century AD, the emperor Hadrian expanded the city and renamed it Licea.  The city really began to thrive because of its access to a nearby port.  There is much proof that the city Licea was a thriving and flourishing city.  One of the most thrilling evidence was discovered by accident during the Fascist period. 

See the building in the background with it horrifying rationalist aesthetic?  Symmetry, simplicity, modernist, no decorative reference to the past or to fantasy or to any kind of human and/or metaphysical fabulousness?  Just a dull, wretched existence of facing only what is tangible?  Italian futurism, what was more horrifying.  Even pasta was in danger….

I digress.

In the late 1920s during the construction of that building they dug into and thus discovered a Roman amphitheater from the 2^nd century.  Fortunately, they were willing to put their fascist ideology aside and decided to uncover what they could and just leave it.  They couldn’t uncover any more because it would mean that a nearby church would have to be destroyed.

Another cool thing is the triumphal arch that was erected in 1548 in honor of Charles V.

 

But the neatest thing is this, one of the two columns that marked the end of the Appian Way, one of the main thoroughfares from the coast of southern Italy to Rome.  The other one rests in its original place, Brindisi, a port town nearby.  Apparently, this one was “gifted” to the city of Lecce.  It’s called the Column of San Oronzo because Saint Oronzo apparently saved the city of Brindisi from the plague.  There is some talk about returning it to its original place though.  I agree.  They should be together.  I mean, really.  The Appian way.  Goodness.  Too fab.