Welcome to Lecce!
Town of arts and history, with so many monuments, palaces and charatteristic streets. A tour may start from the Roman Amphitheatre in piazza S. Oronzo and the Basilica di Santa Croce, one of the main examples of Baroque Arts, and end on the night with the luminarie (lights) on the patronal feast of San Oronzo (24-26 August) and its fireworks.

   
source: www.torrevado.it (photo by Pantaleo Ciucco)

The sea give us the very beautiful scenarios such as the caves and the sand beaches where it is possible to have a swim in San Cataldo (12 km far from Lecce) or in Torre dell'Orso on the Adriatic Sea, or in Porto Cesareo or Torre Vado on the Ionian Sea, or visit other towns and locations, such as Otranto, Gallipoli and Santa Maria di Leuca.

One of the most interesting events of popular tradition is la Focara di S. Antonio on the 16th -17th January:

 
photo in the right from the website:  
http://www.salentotravels.it/tradizioni-salento.asp
(other pictures are own of Villadarte)

It isn't a photomontage! The points you see are the head of thousands of spectators: the focara (the bonfire) is very high, maybe 20 meters of weight and 18 meters of diameter, as a palace with 6 floors. Villadarte is near Novoli, where the focara takes place. The Ferrovie del Sud-Est (railways) provides a service with trains until the late night.

Ignition of the focara and throwing of hot-air balloons