Around & about: so much to see and do
Salento's capital, Lecce, is highly recommended as a place to visit. As well as the castle, the beautiful churches of Santa Croce and Chiesa del Rosario and the Palazzo Vescovile, there's 
a market on Mondays and Fridays around the central Piazza St Oronzo with local produce and ceramics and majolica from Grottaglie, the original home
of terracotta.
About 12 miles south of Lecce is the beautiful little town of Galatina. It has long been famed for its artists and craftsmen who transformed the local stone, leather and wood into elaborate works of art. It has a fine Gothic church built in 1390, containing frescoes by Francesco d’Arezzo and a fine mausoleum dating from 1454.
Galatina’s history of wine production mirrors that of the rest of Salento. For centuries the local grape called Negro Amaro dominated, but in the past 20 years the imported Chardonnay grape vines have enabled the wines of Galatina to become known world-wide.
Another must-see destination is Otranto, the Byzantine capital of southern Italy. It is probably most famous for its cathedral, housing a spectacular mosaic which covers the whole floor and an astonishing chapel that is the resting place for 800 martyrs slaughtered by the Turks in 1480, and their skulls are still displayed in the cathedral today.
Gallipoli is an architectural gem. The old town is on an island, reached by an arched bridge which is flanked by a spectacular Greco-Roman fountain. Gallipoli's buildings pick up a subtle reflected light from the sea at sunset. 
Only 5km from Torre San Giovanni is Ugento - tatty and ugly on its outskirts but rewarding in its historical centre, where the centuries have been kind to the ancient buildings and where, unsurprisingly, the duomo dominates.
At the extreme south of the peninsula, onthe very tip of the heel, is Santa Maria di Leuca, which Julius Caesar believed was the last town in the world. It is well worth a visit, if only to pinch yourself as you realise that you're still in the same country as Milan. It's possible to reach the Greek islands from here by boat (journey time approx 1 hour).
Salentino music The unmistakable music of the Salento is 'la pizzica', a haunting, energetic fusion of tambourine, accordion and violin - and voices. It is almost impossible not to get up and dance! To get a taste of it, visit U Salentinu trattoria just round the corner from Casa Limone where the wonderful home-cooked food is almost always served to the accompaniment of la pizzica, usually on CD but sometimes, if you're lucky, live.
Salentino food You are unlikely to be better fed in any region of Italy than in Puglia, where 'fresh' is the key word and 'delicious' is the dominant adjective. Most local food is organic simply because that's the way it's grown. Preservatives are not required because everything is eaten in season.
Local really does mean local: sometimes ingredients come from as far away as the next town or village, but that's unusual. Wine, fish, bread, meat, fruit and vegetables are all of the highest quality and cooks and restaurateurs take an immense pride in serving the best to their customers. Rest assured that prices are satisfyingly modest, although be prepared to pay realistically for fish, for example, especially in the more snazzy restaurants in the towns.
In Torre San Giovanni it is possible to get a truly wonderful home-made pizza, baked in a wood oven, for about €4.75 (£3.25) - and its diameter will ensure you take a good long time to eat it. You can buy fish fresh from the sea down by the harbour, just the other side of the tower, or from the fish shop (pescheria), near the Bar Otello.
A few of the local specialities:
1. The Salentino 'rustico' is an important part of the local gastronomic tradition and can be found on the food counter in very many bars. A rustico is about 10cm in diameter and consists of a light pastry filled with mozzarella, béchamel, tomato and a seasoning of pepper and nutmeg.
2. Also to be found in bars and pasticcerie is the pasticciotto. This is a sweet pastry filled with a confectioner's custard, sometimes with different flavours. It's been made for the past 300 years or so and is proudly upheld as one of the principal contributors to Salento's culinary reputation.
3. Prickly pear fruit (fico d'India) is as prevalent at the roadsides and in fields as it is in shops and restaurants when in season. It is succulent and sweet and not to be missed.
4. An interesting discovery to make is the frisella, a rock-hard bread roll (usually sold in bags 
of a dozen or more) which has been slit in half and oven-baked to dry it out and so extend its life. Friselle evolved as an ingenious way of storing bread during times when flour was scarce. It is possible to buy friselle made from either wheat or barley flour.
To prepare them for eating, simply immerse them one at a time for five seconds or so in a bowl of cold water, shake off any surplus water and top them with chopped tomato, chopped garlic, oregano, salt and plenty of olive oil. They are, as you'd expect, delicious.
