Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Southern Italy's Top 10
Facade of the Basilica di Santa Croce
GREG ELMS/GETTY IMAGES ©
10
The extravagant architectural character of many Puglian towns is down to the local
style of
barocco leccese
(Lecce baroque). The local stone was so soft, art critic Cesare
Brandi once claimed 'it can be carved with a penknife'. Local craftsmen vied for ever-
greater heights of creativity, crowding facades with swirling vegetal designs, gargoyles and
strange zoomorphic figures. Lecce's Basilica di Santa Croce is the high point of the style,
so outrageously busy the Marchese Grimaldi said it made him think a lunatic was having a
nightmare.
