The first long week end of december is getting closer and it is time to plan a new visit.
\nWhy not visiting Lecce, the Apulia candidate for Capital of European Culture 2019? Lecce and its itineraries in surrounding Salento area will satisfy even the most demanding visitors: culture, art, nature and more.<\/p>\n
Say Baroque and the majority of people will think of Sicily and the masterpieces of Noto and the surrounding valley.
\nYet, the Baroque of Lecce doesn’t need to be jealous of its Sicilian counterpart. A visit to the city will leave you agape and help bolster your reputation as an art connoisseur.<\/p>\n
Lecce\u2019s urban area was completely renovated from the second half of the 16th century following the end of the Aragon dominance that had been grieved by plagues and mass slaughters. In the same period the Counter Reform guidelines pointed to stress and reinforced both the spiritual and temporary religious powers of the Church.<\/p>\n
The rich d\u00e9cor of the Baroque style<\/strong>, however over the top it might look to us now, was intended to signify both a physical recovery after the previous, miserable years and the authority and power of the Church. A special process was therefore invented: the limestone had to be treated with milk so as to reduce the porosity and make it more resistant<\/strong>. The milk gave the stone a whiter shade.<\/p>\n\n\t\t
\nThe local limestone is honey-coloured and so friable you can carve it easily enough. The locals used it to erect incredible palaces for the city aristocrats as well as being the stone of choice of the Duomo, the main Cathedral.
\nAlthough the extreme ductility made the limestone a perfect building material in terms of artistic decoration, it proved dangerous in terms of resistance.<\/p>\n