Piazza del Duomo

All 22 photos in Puglia 2022

Bari, Lecce and Brindisi · May 2022 · 22 photos

Puglia is the heel of the Italian boot, between the Adriatic and the Ionian Sea. The album follows three days on the road, from Bari south to Lecce, then back north to Brindisi. Bari and Lecce have blue, almost cloudless skies, while Brindisi lies under an overcast sky.

Bari, late in the afternoon. The Basilica di San Nicola, built in the Romanesque style from 1087 on, holds the relics of Saint Nicholas, brought from Myra that same year, and draws pilgrims from both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Next to the old town, the waterfront follows the Adriatic shore.

Lecce, the city of Baroque carved in Lecce stone, a soft limestone. The route begins in Piazza del Duomo, enclosed by the cathedral, its bell tower almost 70 m tall, the bishop's palace and the seminary with its cloister. Next comes the Basilica di Santa Croce, built between the 16th and 17th centuries.

In the afternoon, in Piazza Sant'Oronzo, the Roman amphitheater, discovered in 1901 and only partly uncovered, lies below street level next to the column of the city's patron saint. The walk goes on past the Castle of Charles V, the church of Sant'Irene and Porta San Biagio, one of the city's old gates, and in the evening ends at the Palazzo dei Celestini, next to Santa Croce.

Brindisi, an important port since antiquity and the end of the Via Appia. The Monument to the Italian Sailor, a rudder-shaped tower inaugurated in 1933, rises on the shore of the inner harbor. From there, the walk continues in the Casale district, then in the old town.

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