Sports, entertainment, relaxation, art, culture and traditions...
Hiking, swimming, kayaking, biking, walking by the sea. An healthy outdoor experience...
Basking in the sun, bathe, play with the kids on the beautiful beaches of Salento...
Festivals, restaurants, events in Gallipoli, marked by joy and fun...
Walking in the nearby town of Gallipoli... to discover Art and Culture...
From dishes to the different forms of local crafts. Discover the charm of the traditions of Salento...
If you love nature and photography you are in the right place. Fascinating views and fabulous sunsets...
As for the artistic point of view, Gallipoli has a lot of extremely delightful monuments, including the Saint Agatha’s Basilica, the Saint Francis from Assisi’s Church, the Hellenic Fountain and the stately Angevin Castle.
The Fountain is an important work of art, dating back to the Renaissance; it has three bas-reliefs describing the metamorphosis of Circe, Salamace and Biblide. The citizens of Gallipoli - a city surrounded by the sea - used to take the fresh water from the stately Greek Fountain, currently located nearby the bridge that connects the Angevin Castel, between the old and the new town.
Dated back to the Baroque fourteenth-century; according to the legend, this church was built following an order of Saint Francis, coming back from the Holy Land.
The original structure of the church had been changed by the renovations made in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; even if the church has lost its original medieval features, it still remains one of the monuments that you should visit during the sightseeing of Gallipoli.
Among all of the castles and fortification that you should visit in the Salento area (inclusive of Lecce, Otranto, Copertino, Castro, Poggiardo), one of the most significant is surely the Angevin Castle, located in Gallipoli and dated back to the Byzantine age.
Built around the year 1269, after the siege of the Angevins, upon the ruins of the Roman bastions; it is surrounded by the sea and rises, with its stately mass, at the eastern end of the island (where there is the old town).
Built on a quadrangular plan, with four cylindrical towers and drawbridge that used to connect it to the town, it had been changed by the conquerors several times over the centuries.
A classically Baroque church, it is the most important monument in Gallipoli.
Built around the year 1600, it is located in the highest point of the city, right in the city centre of Gallipoli. It was commissioned by Giacomo Lazzari - at the time, a famous doctor - and it was built by local architects.
The front of the church is a typical example of the seventeenth century art and it is decorated in “carparo”, a stone resulting from a calcareous sedimentary rock; instead, the inside of the church is Latin cross shaped, with nave and two aisles divided by twelve Doric columns
On July 2nd, at sunset, in the ancient seaport, a fibreglass statue will be lowered to the bottom of the sea and then it will be brought out, as a miraculous appearance.
According to the legend, some fishermen found a canvas portraying Madonna’s face, in a marshy swamp surrounded by ditch reeds.
Saint Christine is the patron Saint of Gallipoli since 1867, when she set Gallipoli free from cholera. The citizens of Gallipoli celebrates Saint Christine for three days, by decorating Roma Sreet - the main street of town - both with wooden ornaments rich of coloured lights and a great number of stalls.
The feast ends with the so called “cuccagna a mare”, a contest between young volunteers who must climb up a vertical pole, in order to take the tricolour flag.
This is a travelling tour - in several villages and towns in Salento - of various bands, playing Salento’s traditional music.
During the festival - which takes place every year in August - the folklore of “Pizzica” involves all the tourists and travellers, both with spontaneous concerts and tambourine players dancing and singing all night long.
The festival of the popular music of Salento was born in 1998 and in the last years it counts an audience of hundred-thousands members, who gather in Melpignano, at the square in front of the former Augustinian convent, for the final big concert.
The festival is organized by the Union of the Towns of Salento.
