Castro: The Salento Fjord and the Cave That Amazed the Romans

Castro faces the Strait of Otranto as if gazing toward Greece — and indeed Greece is less than 130 kilometers away. The village is small, fewer than three thousand inhabitants, divided between Castro Alta on the hill and Castro Marina at the bottom of the natural harbor the Romans called Castrum Minervae. It is here, according to some interpretations of the Aeneid, that Aeneas landed fleeing Troy: legend overlaps with history with the naturalness that only Salento can lend to things.

The Zinzulusa Cave

One kilometer north of the port, reachable only by sea or via a stairway cut into the rock, the Zinzulusa Cave is the largest publicly accessible sea cave in Salento. The dialect name means "full of rags" — the rags are actually stalactites hanging like drying laundry. The cave extends about 150 metres in its visitable section and hosts endemic aquatic fauna, including a small blind crustacean adapted to underground waters. Guided tours cost six euros and last about forty-five minutes.

The Castle and the Natural Harbor

The Angevin castle of Castro Alta dominates the harbor from above: built between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries on the remains of a Byzantine stronghold, enlarged by the Aragonese, it is one of the few Salento castles with a truly strategic position on the open sea. The natural harbor below, carved into limestone, is one of the safest shelters on the entire southern Adriatic coast. Fishing boats share the water with sailboats in transit to Greece and small tourist boats seeking the caves.

Castro Off-Season

In July and August Castro Marina fills with Salentine and German tourists, but remains well short of the saturation of Santa Maria di Leuca or Otranto. Off-season — May, June, September — the village is nearly deserted and the sea is perfectly swimmable. In summer, ferries depart from the port for Greece via Corfu. The cuisine is coastal Salentine: octopus in pignata, linguine with lobster, pasticciotti for dessert. A seafood restaurant at the port runs fifteen to twenty-five euros per person.