Mystery as well as history

Salento, the part of the southeastern Apulia region forming the "heel" of the Italian "boot," offers the eye Baroque art and vestiges of the many powers that have ruled it.

To get a feel for the area's primeval character, it should be travelled from end to end.

Off the beaten track, Salento lacks the enormous hotels that cater to mass tourism. Holidaymakers here find accommodation in restored castle-like farms dating from the Middle Ages.

Salento has many a secret waiting to be disclosed, and an insider's tip to be taken. Everywhere are grand sights such as the architecture of medieval churches and palaces.

Extravagant Baroque buildings alternate with Rococo. Some churches are Romanesque in origin. Signorile palaces line narrow streets.

In the course of millennia, Arabs, Greeks, Romans and Spaniards all came and held sway, were expelled, and left manifold traces of their cultures.

When Italians take a holiday in the hot months of July and August, extended families from the north populate Salento's 800-kilometre coastline.

Sandy beaches beckon on the Ionian Sea in the west. On the Adriatic Sea in the east, cliffs and tiny bays ideal for bathing are the norm.

But after the high season, a drive up the narrow, scenic coast road SP 358 from Salento's extreme southern cape to the port town of Otranto is relaxing.

Behind every bend are new views of the sea, fiord-like bays and bulky fortified towers.

Just a few kilometres further on, the route passes through a wild and barren landscape to Italy's easternmost point: the Cape of Otranto with the Punta Palascia lighthouse. Here, when the weather is clear, you can easily see the mountains of Albania, 50 kilometres away.

"Take the scenic road from south to north because that's the direction with the best views," advised Nadia and Antonio, who run a small boardinghouse out of their home in Muro Leccese.

Most of the accommodation in Salento consists of bed and breakfasts or rooms in "masseria," as the fortified mediaeval farms are called.

There are more than 70 masseria and 300 bed and breakfasts.

Many masseria, which formed a second line of defence against enemy attacks from the sea in the Middle Ages, are rural hotels today.

Lecce, Salento's principal city, has 45 churches, monasteries, palaces with inner courtyards, and a Roman amphitheatre.

Particularly impressive is its 16th-century Basilica of Santa Croce, whose light- coloured facade is richly decorated with ornaments and statues of saints.

But smaller towns into which outsiders seldom stray also sparkle with art treasures.

Galatina, for example, boasts the 14th-century Church of St Caterina d'Alessandria, one of the area's few Gothic houses of worship.

The highlight of any trip across Apulia is a visit to Castel del Monte. Frederick II, the last Holy Roman emperor of the Hohenstaufen dynasty (and, as Frederick I, king of Sicily) had the massive castle built between 1229 and 1249.

Its octagonal shape and eight octagonal towers make Castel del Monte unique in the world.

The castle is shrouded in mystery. Was it the ruler's hunting seat? Why do all eight sides have a length of 16.5 metres? Castel del Monte is Apulia's greatest secret.

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