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The Via Francigena in Salento: let's discover the itineraries between history, nature and architecture

Historically, Via Francigena, or rather Vie Francigene, refers to a group of streets that connected the territories dominated by the Franks (now France and Germany) to Rome in medieval times. Today we talk about Vie Francigene also to indicate those cultural itineraries towards Rome, intended for modern pilgrimage and sustainable tourism.

The saying "all roads lead to Rome" can ironically give an idea of ​​how many Vie Francigene there are on a theoretical level. The history of this path has its origins in the Middle Ages, when pilgrims had to reach one of the peregrinationes majores, to get to Jerusalem, Santiago or Compostela. The pilgrims' journey, in fact, started from Southern Italy to reach Northern Europe or, on the contrary, began in Rome to reach Puglia, where they embarked for the Holy Land. In fact, pilgrims in the Middle Ages started from their home and traveled not only the 'road' network of the time, but also all those paths and pavements which least exposed them to the risk of assault or accidents but which at the same time passed through places where it was possible receive hospitality and food.

The Via Francigena in Salento extends along the heel of the boot for approximately 120 km: a journey into the culture of this strip of land which boasts countless unmissable stops, between the main cities such as Lecce and Otranto, the thousand-year-old city that looks to the East, admiring fascinating architectural works, passing through villages and countryside, where there is no shortage of ancient testimonies of pilgrimage stages.

Alto Salento, the origins of the route

The route starts from the city, or rather from the port of Brindisi, and one of the symbolic elements are the Two Columns of the Appian Way, arrival for those who had to leave for the Holy Land, or departure for those who had to go to Rome. For a long time the columns were considered terminals of the Appian Way, but the placement of the columns on the rise overlooking the port of Brindisi, and the relationship with the view of the mouth of the same, demonstrate that they were raised with a celebratory intent, perhaps to support of two bronze statues.

Another obligatory stop for anyone passing through Brindisi is the Church of San Giovanni al Sepolcro, very ancient, from the Norman age (11th century), built on several layers of the city's history. It is a small re-enactment of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, with a circular plan to indicate the circularity of life and spirituality that rises upwards, accompanied by cycles of frescoes and carved capitals.

Continuing the journey, close to Torchiarolo, we find Valesio, an ancient city that was first Messapian, then Roman, then Byzantine, which remained in existence until the year 1000 AD. approximately as a medieval village, then uninhabited, literally crossed by the Via Traiana-Calabra. It is a very important city in antiquity, where many excavations have yet to be carried out, but in which many coins from various parts of the Mediterranean have been found so far, and this makes us understand that this place was the hub of exchanges, commerce and passage of people from many different places, which still has a lot to tell.

On the stretch of road that leads us from Valesio towards Surbo, we come across a historical-architectural asset of great value, which since 2012 has been managed directly by the FAI

(Italian Environment Fund), namely the Abbey of Santa Maria a Cerrate.Dating back to the 11th century, although according to archaeological excavations  was enlarged until it became one of the most important monastic centers in southern Italy: in 1531, when it came under the control of the Hospital of Incurables of Naples, the complex included, in addition to the church, stables, accommodation for the farmers, a well, a mill, two underground oil mills. The sacking of Turkish pirates in 1711 plunged the entire center into a state of complete abandonment which continued throughout the 19th century. Today, after a complex restoration, the Abbey can be visited again and represents a splendid example of Apulian Romanesque architecture embellished with important frescoes that make it unique in the Byzantine world. there were previous settlements, during the 12th century it was also a center of production (especially of cereals), and was inhabited by Byzantine monks who were fleeing from Turkish persecution in Byzantium. The locality was an important religious and cultural hub. the Abbey

In the countryside of Lecce, on the border with the municipality of Surbo, there is another very important stop on the Via Francigena Salentina, namely the Church of Santa Maria d'Aurìo.

Dating back to the 12th century, it is the oldest architectural testimony of the medieval farmhouse of Aurìo, which disappeared between the 15th and 16th centuries. The church was another place that was crossed before arriving in Lecce, and in addition to being full of crosses, a distinctive and characterizing sign of the passage of pilgrims, it also has a series of boats engraved on its facade, and this is a sign that the pilgrims they were preparing for the journey to go to the holy land and had to cross the Adriatic. The vast majority of these travellers, especially those who came from northern Europe, had never seen the sea, and the experience of navigation was terrifying for them, because it happened that due to rough seas and storms, ships were shipwrecked and pilgrims died. drowned. The design of the ship was engraved almost like a votive offering, to ensure that the church protected their journey. In the event that they managed to arrive from the east to Salento, after crossing the stormy sea, the engraving became an ex-voto for the grace received.

From Lecce towards south Salento

At the entrance to Lecce we are welcomed by the former Olivetan Monastery, and the ancient monastery, more than a secluded place, was a strategic site, chosen in the 12th century by Tancredi d'Altavilla, the last Norman count of Lecce, to build a sumptuous religious complex, assigning it to the Benedictine Order. The abbey aroused amazement from the beginning due to its magnificence and the church, dedicated to Saints Niccolò and Cataldo, reached "the highest level" among medieval architecture in the Terra d'Otranto. In 1494 the Olivetans (Benedictines of Monte Oliveto) arrived, replacing the pre-existing community, now in extinction. While the church was preserved and enriched, the convent was rebuilt in majestic form.

The Via Francigena passes through Lecce, where the Church of San Nicolò dei Greci is located in the historic center.
It is a Salento church built above an ancient church dating back to the 9th century, of which the ancient crypt and the apse part still exist. Ancient paintings are still present in the crypt. The small church was called the “Church of San Giovanni del Malazio” and at a certain point it had been abandoned. In the rear part of the church there is a cistern, which collected the waters of an aquifer of the Idume river, the river of Lecce.

Proceeding towards the fortified city of Acaya, and crossing the countryside of Melendugno, you arrive in the area of ​​Grecìa Salentina, and one

of the places most frequented by travelers was that of Carpignano Salentino, where the baroque Parish Church from the 16th century stands out, which houses the Crypt of Santa Cristina dug into the tuff between the 8th and 9th centuries. The Crypt is the only place from this era where the client and the fresco painter are known, as their names are mentioned in the numerous writings in Greek that cover the walls of the crypt. The frescoes on the walls, which are more than a thousand years old, have been preserved very well and the crypt is the only case in the entire Mediterranean where we have such a wealth of data. This type of frescoes continues to remind us that at the time, for those crossing the Via Francigena, the main point of reference was Constantinople, where Greek was spoken.

We continue between ancient farms and a lush pine forest until we cross the village of Cànnole, where we find the Village of Torcìto, which was initially a village, then in the 12th
century it became a Masseria, to which over the years further structures were added, such as the dovecote tower and the Church dedicated to San Vito. The Masseria di Torcìto is surrounded by lush vegetation, which has accompanied it over the centuries, and which today has given life to the Torcìto Natural Park, much appreciated by trekking enthusiasts.

We then arrive at the eighteenth-century Sanctuary of Monte Vergine in Palmariggi, which houses a precious crypt from the Byzantine period, on whose eastern side there was an altar containing a half-length fresco of the Madonna with the Baby Jesus in her arms.

Giurdignano follows with its "Megalithic Garden", an area rich in dolmens and menhirs, and we remember in particular the San Paolo Menhir, another stop on the Francigena route, where a crypt was excavated inside the rocky spur, probably from the Byzantine, inside which you can see a fresco representing the taranta, a poisonous spider that bit women, the so-called tarantate, of whom Saint Paul is the protector.

In the smallest municipality in the whole of Salento, Giuggianello, still between dolmens and menhirs, there is the ancient Masseria Quattro Macine, a Byzantine settlement dating back to the 7th century, attacked by the Turks over the years, rebuilt, used as a post station, tobacco factory, farm .

We then enter the gully of the Idro Valley, and pass through the Grotta di Sant'Angelo, a partly destroyed church-crypt, where some traces of the frescoes that decorated the walls of the cave are still evident, representing sacred figures, people in tunics, the faces of two women, and saints. Although the frescoes are difficult to identify today, the Sant'Angelo cave is undoubtedly one of the most evocative and interesting in the entire Idro valley.

We then head to the center of Otranto with the splendid Cathedral of S.Maria Annunziata, built on the remains of a Messapian village, a Roman domus and an early Christian temple, it was founded in 1068. It is a synthesis of different architectural styles including Byzantine, early Christian and Romanesque elements. The 13th century frescoes were almost all destroyed by the Turkish invasion of 1480. However, the precious mosaic floor remains intact, executed between 1163 and 1165, of great scenic impact due to the large decoration representing scenes from the Old Testament, chivalric cycles, medieval bestiaries. The images, arranged along the development of the Tree of Life, retrace the human experience from original sin to salvation. The crypt is very particular from an architectural point of view, which dates back to the 11th century and is a miniature of the famous Cistern of Theodosius or the Mosque of Cordoba. It has three semicircular apses and is characterized by forty-eight bays interspersed with over seventy columns, semi-columns and pillars. The singularity lies in the diversity of the support elements, coming from ancient and early medieval buildings, from the various figurative repertoire. The surviving frescoes which span a chronological span from the Middle Ages to the sixteenth century are of great value.

No less important is the Church of San Pietro, also in Otranto, it is one of the most representative medieval buildings of the South of the Byzantine building tradition and remains the highest and most vivid expression of Byzantine art in Puglia. The sacred building probably represented the first basilica of the city, elected metropolis in 968 and directly dependent on the patriarchal seat of Constantinople. Its dating has long been the subject of debate among scholars, but from the analysis of the structure, the frescoes and the inscriptions in Greek, it seems attributable to the 9th-10th century. In the three apses at the back there are splendid Byzantine-style frescoes dating back to the 10th-11th century

After passing Cocumola, where the Menhir of the Cross stands in Via Savoia 26, you walk among pine forests and olive groves up to Vignacastrisi.

It is then the turn of Andrano, in whose countryside we find the Crypt of Attàrico; it is believed that from the 8th to the 10th century the cave hosted Basilian monks, and two frescoes are still present. Initially as a refuge, and later as a spiritual hermitage, the monks in the meantime moved to the nearby abbey of Santa Maria del Mito, a cultural center and totally self-sufficient farm, located between the fiefdom of Tricase and that of Andrano.

The final destination

The route of the Via Francigena Salentina is almost over, and about 1 km from Santa Maria di Leuca, near today's Masseria Coppola, on the SS 275, the last stop was the ancient Cappella dei Lazzari, where illnesses were treated . Built in the 14th century. by the Grand Dukes of Tuscany for the Florentine sailors, who frequented the port of Leuca in large numbers, unfortunately it no longer exists.

The last stop, and undoubtedly the most significant, is in Santa Maria di Leuca, at the Basilica – Sanctuary S. Maria de Finibus Terrae, which has its roots in the early days of Christianity. It stands where there had been the temple dedicated to the goddess Minerva of which, upon entering the church, on the right, an relic is preserved: the altar or a part of it, on which sacrifices were offered to the goddess. Tradition has it that the apostle Peter in 43 AD. he landed in Puglia to return to Rome after his journey to the East. On this occasion, the temple was dedicated to the Savior and
converted into a Christian sanctuary. It was precisely here, in fact, that Saint Peter began his work of conversion, starting from the Salento population and then continuing throughout the West. The testimony of the apostle's passage is the Petrina Cross placed in front of the Sanctuary. Only at a later time was it consecrated to Santa Maria di Leuca. Precisely because of its highly coveted position, the sanctuary was unfortunately targeted numerous times over time, in particular by the Turks and Saracens, as an indirect attack on the Christian religion. It was destroyed five times, the last of which in 1720. The numerous reconstructions obviously gave the Sanctuary a different appearance from the original one, but the faithful wanted to maintain the structure of the perimeter walls.

Conclusions

The path we followed takes us back in time thousands of years, and allows us to understand and discover the most ancient origins of the architectural beauties that dot the route of the Via Francigena Salentina, starting from small treasure chests, such as the crypts, up to arrive at immense treasures, such as abbeys and farms.

They are places that are still part of our present today, and which will enrich our future.

by marianoimmobili