Founded by Malennio, king of the Salentini and ancestor of the Emperor Marco Aurelia, became a Roman colony with the name of Lupiae, in the II century B.C It was a flourishing agricultural and commercial center.

Cretan colony, land of the Messapi, then Byzantine, Saracen, Norman and Svev; it subsequently became part of the Aragonese regal territories in the xvth century, beginning the period of maximum splendour so as to be described as Florence of the baroque, and "Athens of the Puglie".

Charles v th, to defend the city and the coast from the Turkish raids, built towers and fortified farms, reconstructed the new castle and the walls with the arch. Gian Giacomo of the Acaya. Towards the end of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century the city was enriched by a string of churches and buildings in baroque and elegant style commanded by the religious orders of the Counter-Reformation; original even if at times exuberant by means of the use of the leccese stone, a warm golden coloured building stone from the quarries of Lecce. Gabriele Riccardi, Francesco Antonio Zimbalo, Giuseppe Zimbalo called the Zingarello, Caesar Penna and Giuseppe Cino have their names connected to various architectural works.

To visit:

The cathedral built in the XIIth C rebuilt by G. Zimbalo in the second half of 1600 The cathedral Square characterized by the bell tower of the same height about 70 mt, the Episcopalian building built between 1694 and 1709 from sketch of G. Cino; the Pozzale, the building of the seminar one of the more important monuments of the baroque architecture Leccese; the castle of Charles Vth in 1539 that the king of Naples had built from a project by Arch. Gian Giacomo of the Acaya. the Roman amphitheater II sec. BC.; Church of St Nicolo and St Cataldo; Rudiae gate of 1703, church of St Irene, protectress of the city; the cloister from 1500 with inside a picturesque baroque newspaper kiosk, the church of Holy Clara; of Saint Matthew; of the Rosary or of St John the Baptist; the building of the government ex convent of the Celestines and the church of St Croce.

The church of St Croce begun in 1548 from a sketch by Riccardi and completed two centuries after by G. Zimbalo and by C. Penna is the maximum expression of the baroque Leccese: the façade presents an exuberant wealth of decorations, and a "Susseguirsi" of symbolic angelic figures, eagles, saints, flowers, fruit,dragons, the interior is a Latin cross with three aisles on columns, with pompous decoration of the capitals and with a wooden ceiling, gilded chests in the greater aisle where there is a cloth that represents the trinity. Other important churches: St Mary of Costantinopoli, Church of the Gesu, and the Church of the Lady of the Carmine. Among the buildings: Palmieri building, Spada building, Carafa building.
Of remarkable importance is the provincial archaeological museum "Sigismondo Castromediano".
Not to forget is the St Oronzo Square with the column of the holy patron, meeting place of the Leccesi.
Lecce is a true "BONBONNIÈRE" city, a fascinating jewel, walking around the old town centre ,above all in the evening,one seems to be in Cinecitta or on an another cinema set.