Skip Lecce: Nardò, Baroque Splendour Without the Crowds

Nardò: the baroque Salento that Lecce doesn't tell you about

Lecce is the «Florence of the Baroque», a magnificent city that in recent years has experienced an unprecedented tourism boom: low-cost flights, social media and international guidebooks have transformed it from a niche destination to a mass one. The alleys of the centre have filled with tourist-oriented venues, the churches have queues at the entrance and prices have reached levels unusual for the Salento. Just thirty kilometres to the south, Nardò offers the same sense of wonder but with one fundamental difference: here you are still a guest, not a customer.

Piazza Salandra: the baroque surprise

Piazza Salandra is the heart of Nardò and one of the most beautiful squares in southern Italy. At its centre rises the Guglia dell'Immacolata, a nineteen-metre baroque column decorated with statues and bas-reliefs. Around it stand noble palaces with wrought-iron balconies, the Chiesa di San Trifone and the Sedile, an elegant Renaissance loggia. The effect is that of a theatrical stage set — but without the audience: on a weekday morning you might be the only visitors.

- Intact architecture: Nardò's historic centre has not been restored for tourists but for residents, preserving an authenticity that Lecce is progressively losing.

- True Salentine prices: a full lunch with wine in a Nardò osteria costs half what you would pay for the equivalent in Lecce.

- Extraordinary sea: Lecce is inland; Nardò has one of the Salento's most beautiful coastlines with the Porto Selvaggio Nature Park.

- Strategic base: from Nardò you can reach Gallipoli, Santa Maria di Leuca, Otranto and Lecce itself within half an hour.

Porto Selvaggio Nature Park

Porto Selvaggio is a coastal nature park of around 1,000 hectares protecting one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in Puglia. The Porto Selvaggio bay — reachable only on foot through a pine forest — is a rocky and pebbly cove with transparent turquoise water, overlooked by a sixteenth-century watchtower. There are no beach clubs, bars or facilities: only nature, sea and silence.

A little further south, the Baia di Torre Uluzzo is a site of worldwide archaeological significance: remains of early Upper Palaeolithic settlements (the Uluzzian culture) were found here, among the oldest in the Mediterranean. The coastal path connecting the two bays crosses fragrant Mediterranean scrubland and offers spectacular views.

Churches and palaces

Nardò is a catalogue of Lecce Baroque. The Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, founded in the Norman period and reworked in Baroque style, preserves a black Byzantine crucifix known as the "Cristo Nero" and is one of the most venerated sacred places in the Salento. The Tempietto delle Osanna, an octagonal small temple dating from 1603, is an architectural one-of-a-kind. The Palazzo dell'Università, now the town hall, displays a majestic Baroque façade.

Walk along via Roma and via Angelo Ferraris to discover carved portals, hidden courtyards and balconies where ladies still hang out their washing in the open air.

Where to eat

Nardò's cuisine is Salentine cooking in its purest form. The Osteria del Borgo Antico serves traditional dishes such as ciceri e tria (pasta and chickpeas with a portion of fried pasta), pittule (fritters) and rustici filled with tomato, mozzarella and béchamel. Trattoria Da Pippi is the reference point for fresh fish from the port of Santa Caterina. For aperitivo, the wine bars on Piazza Salandra serve local wines — Negroamaro and Primitivo — at prices you would no longer find in Lecce.

How to get there and when to go

Nardò is reachable by car from the Lecce–Gallipoli expressway (Nardò exit) or by train with Ferrovie Sud Est (Lecce–Gallipoli line). Brindisi airport is an hour's drive away. The best months are April–June and September–October: perfect weather, beautiful sea and a borgo that is almost deserted. July and August are warmer and livelier, but Porto Selvaggio always remains far less crowded than the equipped beaches of the Ionian coast.