Strangely my favorite city from our 23-day Italy trip wasn’t the magnificent Venice or romantic Verona, but a distant, ancient provincial capital at the sun-soaked southeastern tip of mainland Italy.
I can list a dozen reasons why I preferred little-known Lecce to heavyweight Venice, starting with its wealth of fantastic local seafood at peasant prices. For starters much of the Gamberi Rossi and Scampi sold at Venice’s Rialto Market actually hail from these southern waters, not to mention fascinating local specialties such as Linguine with Sea Urchin Roe. Remembering that some of the best sea urchin we’ve tasted also came from these Mediterranean waters, Lecce became incredibly appealing for this self-proclaimed foodie.
But to be completely honest, Lecce made it into our itinerary almost as an afterthought as we had a couple days to spare between our prime destinations of Alberobello and Matera, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Only when I browsed through Italy’s tentative World Heritage list did I realize Lecce’s unique architecture and cultural legacy in the deep south.
Located at the farthest corner of Italy’s sparsely populated Adriatic Coast, charming Lecce is often snubbed by Italians and foreigners alike as the remote backwaters, far away from the Milan-Florence-Rome-Naples high speed thoroughfare. I wouldn’t say it’s highly underrated as a destination -- it’s just largely ignored due to isolation.
This is the easternmost terminus of the national rail network, more than 9 hours by semi-highspeed train (i.e. Frecciabianca) from Venice or 5.5 hours from Rome. Like most visitors making it this far, we decided to spend an entire week in Puglia and Basilicata, taking our time to soak up the ambiance and flavors before flying home from Bari.
Historical isolation has fostered a unique local culture at a city physically closer to Greece than it is to Rome. To this date there are towns in Lecce’s outskirt that still speak a Salentine Greek dialect, and one needs to look no further than the local interpretation of grilled calamari to appreciate its cultural intimacy with nations across the Adriatic as opposed to the Romans or Tuscans.
Over 23 days we’ve come across many elegant cities -- Venice, Bologna and San Marino among others -- but there was something genuine and inimitable about Lecce. Centuries of slow and continuous weathering had rendered this once-sparkling town of creamy limestones into a state of crumbling but glorious decay, like the graceful aging of a beautiful lady, still dressed in her 17th Century elegance at every street corner.
The softness of Lecce’s local limestones has long been both a curse, as evident by the heavy erosion on the facades of its old buildings, and a blessing as a valuable natural resource for export. The stones do harden with exposure to the atmosphere over time, though entire building blocks with sponge-like holes from centuries of weathering are still a common sight.
Deep into the heel of Italy’s boot the summer heat waves extended well into late September, which was quite the extreme compared with the alpine frost in the Italian Dolomites less than 2 week ago. Here afternoons are equated with the long southerner Riposo, and popular meeting spots like the Piazza del Duomo only really comes alive after sundown.
The interior of the Duomo would provide an excellent initiation to the so-called Barocco Leccese, Lecce’s main claim to fame as Florence of the South and some of the most extravagant examples of Baroque architecture anywhere in the world. While comparisons with Firenze may be a slight stretch, one has to appreciate the freedom from entrance queues and the pleasure of dirt-cheap Gelato around the corner.
In continuation of the locals’ apparent obsession with the most fragile building materials, many statues inside the Duomo were actually sculpted out of papier-mâché, a seemingly delicate medium elevated into an art form by Lecce’s resourceful artists due to a very practical obstacle -- the scarcity of workable wood in the region.
Three minutes’ walk to the east in this compact historic centre stands a longer-lasting monument thanks to some rigorous Roman engineering. The partially excavated 1st century amphitheatre occupies much of the city’s main square, flanked by a marble column that used to mark the southern end of the Via Appia some 1800 years ago.
It was the Romans who expanded this ancient Greek outpost into a regional metropolis and naval base, complete with an amphitheatre that seated 20,000 and a smaller Teatro for plays. Both have been restored in recent years for hosting summer concerts and other artistic performances.
A few steps north of the amphitheatre leads to one of Europe’s most spectacular and exuberant Baroque buildings, the Celestine church of Santa Croce with its intricately-carved rose window and some of the most elaborate columns and arches anywhere.
This was probably my favorite spot in Lecce -- I could have spent hours just admiring these columns on which hardly any surface was left undecorated with ornate reliefs of angelic figures or botanic motifs. I truly hope that it will only be a matter of time before Lecce and its exquisite Baroque monuments become elevated to full UNESCO World Heritage status.
Around just about every corner stands another stunning Baroque church -- Santa Chiara, Sant’Irene, San Matteo, Santa Maria delle Grazie, del Rosario among others. Strolling through the historic centre was a pleasure especially in the Passegiata hour of late afternoon when the friendly locals come out to socialize, aperitivo in hand, in full expression of that laid-back southern vibe.
And then it was time for an authentic Salentine dinner, lavish with some of Italy’s best seafood and yet down-to-earth in terms of the unpretentious recipes. Here we did not aim for the cheap end -- at such reasonable prices we could afford to feast like royalties on nothing but the region’s freshest seafood offerings.
RESTAURANT REVIEWS
L'OSTRICA UBRIACA
Viale della Liberta 133; 20 minutes walk (or 5 minutes by bus) east of Giardini Pubblici.
This was our best meal in Southern Italy. Period.
Now this may not look like your typical fancy seafood restaurant -- and it isn’t. Located in a blue-collar neighborhood east of Lecce’s historic quarters, L’Ostrica Ubriaca is more of a fashionable fishmonger with a no-nonsense fish-bar to serve simple dishes like grilled prawns and oyster shooters to a local clientele. This is about as authentically Lecce as it gets -- after all, you won’t find many tourists venturing this far from Piazza Sant’Oronzo.
You walk up to the counter to pick your scampi, sip your wine at the patio outside, and the seafood arrives in your choice of preparation which, if you’re adventurous enough to go with the locals, could be completely raw. It’s actually much less risky than it may sound, thanks to a sophisticated filtration system (as explained to me by the friendly owner Francesco) that keeps the live seafood free of pathogenic bacteria.
So we started with the local antipasto of mixed seafood (9 euros) -- a dozen black mussels and a dozen assorted clams, all served raw with nothing but sea water. I must admit that despite being a self-proclaimed Sashimi addict, I had never been served live mussels and clams that were still squirming in their shells! But once we got past the concept of eating these shellfish alive, it was undoubtedly some of the freshest seafood we’ve ever had.
My favorite was this local variety of clams known as Noci Bianche, which somewhat resembled Manila clams but with a heavier shell and a distinctly rich Umami flavor reminiscent of the Japanese Akagai.
My wife had a sweet Fine de Claire (2.5 euros), not exactly a Pugliese product but a perfect match for our bottle of local white frizzante, the Salentine substitute for champagne, before we moved onto even better things.
This was the one unmissible local seafood that I’d always wanted to try, a half dozen of the prized Gamberi Rossi di Gallipoli (1 euro each), again served completely raw and flavored only with a few drops of lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. I half-expected this raw shrimp to sport a stick-to-your-tongue texture similar to a Japanese Botan Ebi, but this was much firmer, a little more saline and, while these weren’t moving around on our plates, just as fresh and enjoyable.
After a good 45 minutes we finally moved onto grilled seafood, starting with a half dozen of these gigantic local prawns at the very affordable price of just 2 euros a piece. There’s something about the saltiness of Mediterranean waters that fully brings out the sweetness in crustaceans, and these were certainly among the best grilled prawns we’ve had anywhere.
Somehow we still found room for one final dish of a whole grilled calamari (9 euros), though in retrospect I would have loved a taste of the local favorite of Tajeddhra (rice with potatoes and mussels). That said, the edges of the calamari were so perfectly charred that my wife wouldn’t have swapped it for anything else.
Our entire feast of nothing but the best seafood, no gut-stuffing pasta, one bottle of local wine, and finishing off with a free Limoncello (Thanks Francesco!) on the house, came to about 24 euros per person. This is one restaurant I would recommend to any foodie visiting Lecce and Puglia in general, as I have not come across any other seafood restaurant of such incomparable (and at times intimidating!) freshness at such friendly prices.
Bill for Two Persons
| Misto Frutti di Mare | 9 euros |
| Ostriche Francesi | 2.5 euros |
| Gamberi Rossi di Gallipoli 1/2 Order | 6 euros |
| Calamaro Arrosto | 9 euros |
| Gamberoni Arrosto | 12 euros |
| Bottle of Frizzante di Salento | 9 euros |
| Limoncello x 2 | FREE |
| Coperto x 2 | FREE |
| Discount | -0.5 euros |
| TOTAL | 47 euros (CAD$65.8) |
The other recommendable eatery that we came across was much closer to the main sights, in fact just a few minutes’ walk from either Piazza Sant’Oronzo or the Duomo. While the clientele was understandably much more touristy, the theme of Salentine seafood was still front and centre.
LA VECCHIA OSTERIA
Via Dasumno 3; about 3 minutes walk northwest of the Duomo.
As the name suggests this is one of Lecce’s oldest Osterie, hosted inside an old Renaissance mansion with tables stretching out into the open-air courtyard in dry summery weather. If I recall correctly the waiters turned down my walk-by reservation and told us to return promptly at 19:30, which we did. Within the next 20 minutes a queue was starting to form outside the restaurant.
That popularity was understandable given the osteria’s offering of authentic Salentine cooking focusing on the region’s abundant seafood, served at reasonable prices such as 8 euros for this antipasto of Pepata di Cozze. In a way these peppered mussels were exactly the quintessence of everything Salentine -- fresh, straightforward and unabashedly fiery, much like its people.
I had been looking forward to this Pugliese delicacy for weeks, craving for the distinct sweetness of Mediterranean sea urchin roes that we last tasted at the Greek island of Mykonos a few years back. Here in Italy it turned out more elusive that we thought, as this was the ONLY restaurant on our 23-day journey that served this rare (pardon the pun) treat.
But this wasn’t the right phase of the moon, as Francesco at L’Ostrica Ubriaca had warned me earlier in the day as his fish-bar served sea urchins only about one week each month. As Francesco explained, the custard-like delicacy is actually the reproductive organ of the sea urchin and is best harvested at new moon, which was 11 days ago. But since we were leaving Lecce the next day, I decided to take the risk.
And Francesco was right -- the flavor of the roes had grown quite bitter, so much so that I failed to finish the entire dish of Linguine. So here’s the lesson-learned to fellow seafood lovers: enjoy your Ricci di Mare / Ahinosalata / Uni Sashimi only under a new moon.
The best course of the evening turned out to be the more ubiquitous dish of Grigliata Misti, especially that meaty and tenderly grilled cuttlefish. One thing I still wonder to this date ... what do the Pugliese do with the cuttlefish ink that is so well-utilized in the North Adriatic (e.g. Venetian cuisine)?
Bill for Two Persons
| Pepata di Cozze | 8 euros |
| Linguine ai Ricci di Mare | 12 euros |
| Grigliata Misti | 12 euros |
| Beer | 4 euros |
| Bottle of Water | 1.5 euros |
| Coperto x 2 | 3 euros |
| TOTAL | 40.5 euros (CAD$56.7) |
Not only did we have the best seafood here in Lecce, we also stumbled upon the best gelato of our entire trip at the small but centrally located Gelateria degli Angeli, just around the corner from the Duomo.
Do your tastebuds a favor and try their housemade Caramelized Figs flavor, infused with such heavenly, gooey syrupiness that we had to go back for a second round.
Yet another reason to love Lecce was its wide availability of cheap accommodation near the historic centre. We rented a VERY spacious apartment -- living room, kitchen and all -- from Le Comari Salentine at a price I wouldn’t even expect amidst the crumbling economy of Greece (as of 2015), let alone in Italy.
At about 70 square metres this was the largest living space we rented so far in Italy ... until our cave house in Matera a few days later. While the furnishing was far from extravagant, the apartment was very clean and perfectly functional with the indispensable air conditioning here in Southern Italy.
Also essential was the apartment’s central location, 7 minutes’ walk from the train station, 10 minutes from Piazza Sant’Oronzo, and a couple minutes to the bus stop on Viale Otranto for a quick bus ride to L’Ostrica Ubriaca. Did I mention that the daily breakfast pastries -- the Leccese favorite of creamy Pasticiotto -- were all included?
As we left for Ostuni we probably wished we had a couple more days in this wonderful historic city. Breathtaking sights, fascinating local culture, warm and gracious people, excellent seafood and rental apartments at bargain prices, as well as some of the best deals on leather goods (48 euros for a hand-stitched men’s cross-body messenger bag!). What’s not to like about Lecce?
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