5 Best Sights in Puglia, Basilicata, and Calabria, Italy

Dominating a vast square concealed by a maze of alleyways, Lecce's magnificent cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta never fails to take visitors by surprise. The goal when building the 17th-century structure was to stun the faithful with a vision of opulence and power. Constructed in rosy local stone, the church is flanked by the ornate Bishops' Palace (1694), the seminary, whose first-floor Museum of Sacred Art (MuDAS) displays papier-mâché sculptures alongside brooding Caravaggio-esque paintings. Adding to this melodious architectural scene is the 236-foot-high bell tower, which dominates the centro storico skyline. 

Contemporary and modern art enthusiasts should seek out this 2018-established collection lovingly amassed since the late '60s by a wealthy Pugliese couple. Among the 200-plus works, striking geometric and abstract paintings and sculpture from 1950–80 predominate. The permanent exhibits are a wonderful introduction to masters of modernismo italiano and less well-known Pugliese artists from Burri to Zorio.

Wannabe restauranteur Luciano Faggiano excavated fascinating discoveries when he bought this building and investigated the blocked toilet back in the year 2000. After initially finding a false floor that led to a Messapian tomb, more digging with the help of family and friends unearthed incredible artifacts including Roman devotional bottles, ancient vases, a ring with Christian symbols, and dusty frescoes. With encouragement and help from the Lecce government and university, an atmospheric homespun museum was born that allows visitors to explore the layers of history beneath the site's seemingly mundane masonry and toilet cisterns.

This is the buzzing hub of Lecce's social life in the heart of the maze of pedestrianized alleyways lined with cafés, little restaurants, and crafts shops. Named after Oronzo, the city's patron saint, who crowns a Roman column that once marked the end of the Via Appia Antica, the piazza is also occupied by another city symbol, the somewhat odd-looking 17th-century Sedile, formerly the town hall but now an art and exhibition center. 

Although Lecce was founded before the time of the ancient Greeks, it's often associated with the term Barocco leccese, the result of a citywide impulse in the 17th century to redo the town in an exuberant fashion. But this was Baroque with a difference: generally, such architecture is heavy and monumental, but here it took on a lighter, more fanciful air, and the church of Santa Croce is a fine example, along with the adjoining Palazzo della Prefettura. The facade is a riot of sculptures of saints, angels, leaves, vines, and columns—all in glowing local honey-color stone, creating an overall lighthearted effect.