Otranto and Gallipoli, beauties of Salento

An accessible private van will offer roundtrip transportation from your hotel located in Puglia or from the main Puglia stations, airports or ports to discover Salento. The first stop will be Otranto, the easternmost city in Italy, which you will visit along with our bilingual guide, expert in art history. The Porta d’Oriente looks like a white fortress on the sea and is one of the most beautiful villages in Italy. You will take a guided tour of the city declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and visit the Cathedral, a stunning monument characterized by a sumptuous Byzantine floor mosaic, a masterpiece depicting the Tree of Life, and considered by many experts to be an encyclopedia of Christianity.

The tour continues to Galatina, city of art and birthplace of pasticciotto, a typical Salento dessert made of shortcrust pastry, filled with custard and baked in the oven. A real wonder in the city is the basilica of Santa Caterina d’Alessandria, adorned by the spectacular internal lining of frescoes of Giotto influence, comparable to those of the Church of San Francesco d’Assisi.

Lunch break will offer you a creative, contemporary and refined gastronomic proposal but with the essential values of Mediterranean cuisine. Following lunch, you will leave with your accessible private van towards Gallipoli, known as the “Pearl of the Ionian”, on a fully accessible guided tour. Its historic center is a medieval village with narrow streets, white buildings in the typical Salento style and balconies built in Baroque style with Lecce stone. Lecce stone is an easily workable limestone rock often carved by the sea wind with natural arabesques that interacting wonderfully with the baroque friezes. Among the valuable monuments, you will also visit the Angevin Castle, the Cathedral of Sant ‘Agata and the Greek Fountain.

As the last stop of this wonderful day, you will visit Santa Maria di Leuca, elegantly placed on a promontory that embraces the Adriatic and Ionian seas. The southernmost tip of Salento is a striking testimony for its ancient history reflected in the crystalline sea and the silence that surrounds the church to which it owes its name. The Basilica is also known as “Santa Maria De finibus terrae” (“Santa Maria of the end of the world”), based on an ancient belief that considered it to be at the border of all the lands that emerged. You will also visit this ancient Sanctuary, born at the beginning of Christianity on a temple dedicated to the goddess Minerva.