Taking advantage of a relatively 'quick' Internet connection aboard, first of all a few images from Lecce, near Gallipoli, which is situated at the lowest part of the boot of Italy - i.e. down at the heel!
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| Every house and every public building has stone balconies, which are supported by stone carvings of real or imaginary creatures |
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| Two lovely stoned ladies (hmmm) are holding up the balcony of the Lecce Town Hall |
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| Lecce manufactures paper mache saints in small corner shops....here a finished product |
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| Saints with clay feet in the making |
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| Stone statues adorn building corners, here a gentlemen deep in literary contemplation |
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| Naked Saint, waiting for a set of clothing beside one of the many bicycles int own |
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| Are we ever getting rid of the load on our backs.....asked these two stone horses under a balcony |
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| Leccinian (?) staging a walkway concert |
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| Rent your bicycle...one way to stop urban crawl |
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| This balcony dog has a secondary duty of suckling a thirsty human child |
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| Sometimes one wonders at the convolutions these poor stone people have to endure... |
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| Cute puppy strategy at steps of local cathedral - it works! |
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| Over the top Lecce Baroque, not a square centimetre without stone carved adornments |
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| A small detail, depicting a country scene with a large portal. This is one small part of the altar shown in the previous photo |
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| Ancient stone dwellings, the highest elevation for miles around. They served as shelter, storage, drying platform and look out point. |
Lecce, near Gallipoli, in the Province of Apulia in Southern Italy on the Salentina Peninsula is living reminder of Greco-Roman times. Actually good old Marc Aurelius founded it in the 2nd century and called it Lupiae. Although situated in Italy, Greco is still spoken by the older population, and practised in song by all generations. It is neither ancient Greek, nor ancient Latin, nor modern Italian - it is a localised relic of language, such as Ladino in northern Italy and Rheto Romanic in Switzerland. The area preserves the remnants of an old Greek culture, which has not yet been totally extinguished by modern day Italian influences.
Apulia is flat, no mountains in sight anywhere, the Ionian Sea under the arch of the Italian Boot spreads out to the west, and the Adriatic Sea to the East. It had its share of invasions, and local olive farmers tried to protect themselves as much as possible being located in such an exposed piece of real estate.
To this day, one notices the odd round structures distributed throughout the rural expanses of the area: small round huts built from stony rubble and lacking any kind of cement or other binding material they look like stone Igloos.
One opening leads into the dark interior, the windowless space stays cool in summer and turns bitter cold in winter, such making for good produce storage in winter and for pleasantly cool shelter for the labouring peasants in summer. A series of stone steps leads around the exterior to the flat roof. As it rains very little if at all in Apulia, the flat roof is used to dry tomatoes and peppers. In ancient history, it also served well as a look out point, being the highest elevation all around, to espy invading Barbarians before they got too close, giving the peasants time to hide or flee. Somehow this scene inspires visions of ancient settlement of human prairie dogs, all standing on their little dirt hills and emitting warning whistles.
To this day, olive trees are the main rural scene: 70% of all Italian Olive oil originates from this area, now it is sold as extra virgin olive oil for use in cooking etc. In earlier times the olives were harvested at a different time in the season and a different stage of ripeness, to ensure a lower acid content than cooking oil need. The ancients used Olive oil to fuel their lamps, and the lower acid content ensured low smoke emission and almost non existent odor.
Lecce, with its unique version of Baroque architecture, barocco leccese, is an open air sculpture gallery in terms of balconies. Most balconies are of stone construction and are supported by stone carved caryatids based on Greco-Romanic legends, Christian images of Saints and Bishops, religious icons, and an array of cats, dogs, horses, dragons - what ever the imagination can think up.
Lecce is a main producer of 'Saints', not the 'real' ones, but the paper mache ones. Paper mache is a preferred material for life size Saints, as they are easier to carry in the numerous processions through town at ever opportunity...plaster saints would be just too heavy and punishing on human shoulders who do the honours of lugging these things up and down the most convoluted alleys, stairways and paths. Workshops which produce these are full of clay pieces of feet (hence the expression for ' a saint with feet of clay' for a fake pious faithful) as well as clay hands and heads, and straw manikins to be covered with paper mache or real fabric clothes and accessories, Tourists arriving by the odd bus load, business is brisk in smaller size saints, nativity scenes, Roman or Greek warriors or gods, and modest maidens etc etc...easier to carry, but hard to pack because of their fragile nature.
Lecce is just compact enough for a little architecturally enlightening stroll (there is even a ruin of an ancient in-ground Greek amphitheatre) and consuming a sinfully delicious Italian ice cream in a cafe on Plaza San Oronzo. Just the right thing during a short stop over in near by Gallipoli. Gallipoli dates back a couple of millennia as well and was a happy fishing village until it fell to the Norman invasion in the 11th century. Fishing is still evident, clusters of fishermen darn their nets along the sea shore alongside their fishing boats, and sea urchin is one of the culinary specialties of town. I stayed with the ice cream...
