Going for Baroque in Lecce!

Friday October 22 was another warm day with a high of 24C.  

We headed out mid-morning to go to a farmers' market beside one of the gates of the city- Porta Rudiae. We meandered there and got slightly lost but got our bearings back with some help.

Our apartment building 

Fontana dell'Armonia 1927

Walked by the Roman amphitheatre again

Chiesa di Santa Chiara - another beautiful Baroque church built between 1687-1691

We saw banners and later some posters promoting a conference on the Art of Creative City Making.

Banners for event

Ex Conservatorio di Sant'Anna XVII- XVIII century

Chiesa San Giovanni Battista (under reconstruction)

Porta Rudiae XVIII century

The market was in an old building-- mostly fruit and vegetables and a few butchers.  We bought some sausages, green beans, fennel, lemons and some plums.  All very reasonable.

Outside of the market

Inside

We then walked over to Chiesa di Santa Teresa, 17th century.

Inside of Church

We decided to stop for a light lunch.  We noticed folks eating outside a small Enoteca- La Bottega del Corso.  We shared a plate of bruschetta with fava beans and chicory, a Pugliese specialty.

Looking into the Enoteca

Alonso with our bruschetta

Nice to be eating outside in the warm weather

Spritz and charcuterie plate for some locals.

We finally made it to the Duomo of Lecce.  The Cathedral is dedicated to Maria Santissima Assunta (the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary).  It was constructed during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Bell Tower (under reconstruction) was built between 1661-1682.

Duomo

And Bell Tower

Seminary

Another angle on the Piazza Duomo

Lecce is known for its paper maché.  This store had a number of elaborate figures.

Paper Maché man

We happened by another Martinucci pastry store, founded in 1950.  This one was their "Laboratory" store.  We had sampled their amazing pasticciotti in Alberobello.

Alonso with his pasticciotto (he got ricotta cheese and pistachio)

We walked by the very impressive Teatro Apollo.  We, unfortunately, just missed a dance performance that happened last week.

Teatro Apollo

We took our market purchases back to the apartment and had a rest.  At 4:30 p.m. we headed out to visit the Jewish Museum (Museo Ebraico) located near to the Basilica di Santa Croce.

Olive Tree representing link between the olive tree and the history of Salento

We stopped at the Basilica di Santa Croce, one of the most amazing baroque buildings we have seen in Lecce.  It was completed in 1695.

An absolute Baroque masterpiece

The wonderful lighting

So many incredible figures

Amazing details

Lovely in the light

More animal figures

We found out that there would be a tour of the Jewish Museum at 6:00 p.m.   As it was only 5:20 p.m., we decided to explore the neighbourhood first.

One of the streets in the old Jewish neighbourhood is named after Abramo Balmes, a Jewish physician and translator of many Hebrew works and philosophy and astronomy.  He was born in Lecce and died in Venice in 1523. 

Narrow street in the old Jewish neighbourhood

Lots of plants

We walked by an ancient arch- named after Leonardo Prato, a Captain, who distinguished himself in 1479 in the battle of Rhodes against the Turks.  He later helped negotiate the terms of the peace.  The arch dates back to the 17th century.

Arco di Prato

It was now time for our tour of the Jewish Museum.

The small Jewish Museum is a cultural centre that has a permanent exhibit entitled Below the Baroque: discovering medieval Jewish Lecce.  The museum opened in 2016 and is housed in a historic building in the old Jewish neighbourhood on the site of the 15th century synagogue.  The project started from a private initiative, in cooperation with the University of Salento with the aim of bringing the history of Medieval Lecce.  The building (late 16-17th century), Palazzo Taurino,  is privately owned and also has a hotel and bistro.  

Entrance to Museum

There was a map of the Centro Storico with the old Jewish quarter highlighted. It was not a ghetto.  

The museum had a number of story boards in Italian and English setting out the history of the community, which was a vibrant one until the expulsion of the Jews in 1510.  The tour guide filled in the details. Today, there are no Jews in Lecce and very few in Puglia.  There were two other couples who were holidaying together on our tour.  

The guide pointed out that streets in the area often referred to the places where the Jewish refuges were from.  For example, Vico Degli Albanesi referred to Albanians and Corte dei Genovesi, refried to those Jews from Genoa. In Thessaloniki in Greece, there is still an "Otranto" alleyway marking where the Jews settled after being forced to leave Puglia in the 16th century.

Inside of the museum

Copy of inscription that would have been in the entrance of the synagogue

Looking down to the pools that were used for ritual bathing (Mikvah)

The guide took us outside to see the place where the mezuzah would have been placed.  He said this was probably the old entrance to the synagogue. 

When we went outside, the two couples on our tour, said that they were staying in the hotel in the same building that houses the museum and that we should see their room that was just off the small courtyard where the mezuzah was situated.

Synagogue room in the Vico dei Bolognesi

One of the couples' room was located just opposite the wall where the mezuzah had been.  The room was named the "synagogue room" and had an old column in it and a floor where one could see some ruins.  The guide had never been in the hotel room and was very appreciative, as were we, that we could see this room with so much history.

We then had a chance to return to the Museum and look at the exhibits in more detail.  There is a temporary exhibit room and staff were preparing for a new exhibit that is opening on October 28.  It is entitled: From the Mainland to Promised Land and is about Holocaust survivors that ended up in DP camps in Italy, including Puglia, and the 'Aliya Bet': (illegal immigration) from Italy to Israel, 1945-48.

Four of the DP camps were set up along the Salento coast including  Santa Maria al Bagno, Santa Cesarea Terme, Tricase and Santa Maria di Leuca, at the southern most tip of Puglia.  A number of survivors were housed in Villas in Santa Maria di Leuca to recuperate and then with difficulty made their way to Palestine. 

After the tour picture--- museum is housed in the Palazzo Taurino

We stopped at Miro Wine Bar around the corner for a drink.  It was in a lovely small street.

With a very good Spritz

Alonso with his glass of Primitivo and the bruschetta with delicious tomatoes and olive oil
that came with the Spritz

We then went back to the apartment for dinner.  Lecce is an incredible city with amazing architecture and great food.  We have decided to take our first guided tour of a number of cities outside of Lecce, including Galipoli and Ortanto.  These cities were going to be difficult for us to reach and would take a lot longer by train or bus than driving.  We will be up early on Saturday when the mini-bus picks us up.