Dark and ancestral rites, stirring scents, violent beauty, all opened wide in the sun. And, moreover, the emerald green of the sea, the parched trees beyond the stone walls, wide sea-coasts with olive trees, watched by bold votive spires and gauzy Baroque façades, as precious as laces.

This is Salento: a land languidly settled, quiet and silent, between the Ionian and the Adriatic sea, similar to a hanging garden that, for its rareness, satisfies the restless curiosity of visitors. The geographical identikit is grounded on a few elements: only beaches, sea and plain, that sometimes is desolating, bare and desert, and sometimes, rich, lively and surprisingly luxuriant. Beyond there is the Mediterranean sea.

Salento has always watched, through the sea, towards the coast in front of it. And, in return, it got an influence still winding between the walls of the ancient villages, the architectures and the urbanistic settings, getting into people’s uses, insinuating into idioms and expanding over old traditions, persisting in a taste having an oriental turn of thought in its typical dishes.

If the sky works as projector, the sea acts as a lung for a heritage rich of art, history, folklore, of a humanity with a high spirit of warm hospitality ... where it is not difficult to spend a holiday in human measure.

1st day - Sunday: at 9 am. Beginning of the tour. (km. 28). From Lecce to Melendugno. Visit to the fortifications of Acaja: the castle and the mediaeval village; visit (*) of the natural area “Le Cesine” - WWF sanctuary (Marshland of international importance since 1971). Hotel accommodation in San Foca of Melendugno.

2nd day (km. 26). From Melendugno to Otranto. The archaeological Messapian sites. The pine wood of S. Andrea. Visit (*) of the marshland of the lakes Alìmini ; visit (*) to Otranto. Hotel accommodation in Otranto.

3rd day (km. 32). From Otranto to Santa Cesarea. Capo d’Otranto and Porto Badisco. Transfer to Uggiano. Visit (*) of the area of dolmen and menhir of Giurdignano: evidence of human settlements back in the bronze age. The Serra di Poggiardo: the ponds of the bauxite quarries; the Byzantine crypts dating back to the VI ADHotel accommodation in Santa Cesarea.

4th day (km. 35). From Santa Cesarea to S. Maria di Leuca.The sea caves: (*1) The Zinzulusa. Transfer to Diso. The woods of Tricase: the imposing Vallonea oak tree, the thousand-year-old olive trees. The southernmost Adriatic coast of Salento at the convergence of two seas. Hotel accommodation in S. Maria di Leuca.

5th day (km. 32). From S. Maria di Leuca to Gallipoli.Visit to the caves of Leuca (*1). Visit to the marshland of Ugento. Transfer to Capilungo. The Punta del Pizzo and Baia Verde.Hotel accommodation in Gallipoli.

6th day (km. 36). From Gallipoli to Lecce.Visit (*) of the town of Gallipoli. S. Maria al Bagno. S. Caterina the nature reserve of Porto Selvaggio. Transfer to Nardò. Copertino. S. Pietro in Lama. Hotel accommodation in Lecce.

7th day: visit (*) of the city of Lecce and the “Museo Archeologico Provinciale Sigismondo Castromediano” (an excellent display of the archaeological features seen during the cycling tour).

4 pm End of tour.

NOTES:

• (*) accompanied by a specialized guide. (*1) visit subject to the sea condition.

• "Transfer" means the party reaches a place with a means of transport other than the bicycle. For organizational reasons, the exacts places for each nights stopover are subject to change until final confirmation is received.

MEETING POINTS

	BRINDISI Airport: Alitalia Airlines Connection to Brindisi by bus Connection to Lecce by railway
	LECCE - FS Railway

By italiainbici