Italy Advisor

Dance and be happy to the mesmerizing sound of Pizzica, the traditional music and dance of Salento. Close to tarantella dances, the crazy dance has its root in Southern Italian superstition but also magical healing. Nowadays pizzica is being revived widely and you can see it being performed in many places.

Santa Maria di Leuca is a famous location for this kind of dancing: it is exactly the peninsula’s southern tip . Here the Ionian and Adriatic Seas kiss each other, creating also top beach destinations. Imagine white buildings in the town and the seaside promenade lined with villas and masserie. The area has a mild climate and a very popular beaches. If you are here, you should visit in the south Marina di Pescoluse: its famous white sand dunes and shallow waters are fantastic!

If you want to travel inside the Salento, you will discover the beauty of the ancient history almost untouched here.

Grecia Salentina is a group of towns (7) in the heart of Salento which creates an area pretty different for heritage and language from the other part of Salento peninsula. Here you can hear the grico,  a Greek dialect mixed with the local dialect. It is and endangered languages and fully recognised on the public institutions. It is written on signs, and taught in local schools. Also architecture here has a touch from ancient Greece: the beautiful whitewashed buildings and houses are a pretty clear sign. If you are in the aerea, go and visit the interesting historic centres and churches of Grecia Salentina and do not miss to go to the impressive castle of Corigliano d’Otranto.

Manduria is the town and the core centre of the Primitivo wine, a great red wine produced in Salento. Here you can find an interesting museum dedicated to Primitivo wine, and if you go there, you can also taste the wine!

Nearby Manduria, interesting also and worth to visit is the Messapian Walls Archeology Park;  an ancient fountain inside a cave and the remains of the impressive megalithic Messapian wall are in it. Outside the ancient walls you will discover a large necropolis with more than 1200 tombs dating from the 6th century BC!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 17th, 2012 at 7:18 pm and is filed under Discover Italy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.