Every design for Lecce

Lecce is known for its Baroque: a city of churches and palazzi so richly carved that it has been nicknamed the Florence of the South. Yet it is also a working southern town, the largest in its province, a centre for olive oil, wine and ceramics, and home to the University of Salento, whose students fill the old streets.

What makes it unlike anywhere else is the stone. Lecce stone, a soft limestone dug from the ground beneath the city, is easy to cut and to sculpt, and it is one of the city's main exports. The Basilica di Santa Croce, the Porta Napoli and the palazzi of the centre are all made of it, and the Anfiteatro Romano di Lecce recalls the Roman town of Lupiae that came before. On summer days, life moves out of town to the marinas along the Adriatic, from San Cataldo, the old Hadrian Port, to Torre Chianca.

And in the middle of it all, the Colonna di Sant'Oronzo honours the patron saint and first bishop of Lecce: the city's own guardian, and a fine reason to carry its streets with you.