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Dear
friends, last Sunday morning we left beautiful Ostuni,
called "the white town" for the dazzling white colour of its
buildings and we drove southwards, through olive
trees and flowers to the Lecce area. In Campi Salentina we visited
the two standing stone of (Candido
and Sperti). The Sperti stone is situated
in the garden of a religious institute, where a group of nuns take care
of some convicts' children. Nun Sistina (1.50m tall) welcomed Diego
(1.86m tall) with an ironic "Hello Your Highness", then she
asked if we could take some photos of the children, to cheer them up.
So Diego and Paola tried to make them smile for a while photographing
and playing with them and promising to send to the children the prints
as soon as possible.
After
this intermezzo, we continued our journey to Lecce, the jewel of Baroque
in Apulia. The most decorated church is Santa
Croce but also the Duomo with
its two different façades is very interesting. In
Lecce we met a friend we knew on the Net, Toti
Calò. He is a very very nice person (we aren't writing this
just because he's reading our web pages: he is REALLY a nice person).
And he is a great expert on Apulian megaliths. He has also witten an
excellent and up-to-date book on the prehistoric monuments of his region:
"Pietre" (Stones) that has become the "bible" of
our tour. Monday and Tuesday Toti even took two days off from his work
to guide us among the labyrinths of narrow country roads to
visit dolmens and standing stones. How kind of him!
You
can't imagine how many stone monuments are spread south of Lecce: 65
standing stones and 21 dolmens. But only a small part of them are known
and signposted. Many of them risk every day to be destroyed by local
farmers and building constructors. And some have been already hopelessly
wrecked. A huge "thanks" to the awfully unuseful Sovrintendenza
dei Beni Culturali - the highly bureaucratic national organization that
should care for Italian cultural heritage! Anyway,
Toti guided us to a long series of standing stones, sited in villages
(San Totaro in Martano, Bagnolo,
San Vincenzo in Giurdignano, Giallini
in Muro Leccese) or among olive trees (Spruno,
Palanzano, San
Giovanni Malcantone), and along stone walls (Croce
di Bagnolo, Miggiano). As
you can see in the photos, the standing stones of the Lecce area are
different from the other ones in northern Europe: they are usually tall
(up to 5 metres), regular in shape and pillar-looking. An exception
is the beautiful Monticelli stone.
Following
the restless Toti, we also visited nine dolmens, some very small in
size (the pretty "baby" dolmens of Masseria
Nuova, Grotta and Pino),
one very complex (Corigliano), one
in serious danger (Specchia),
almost surrounded by modern walls. After the two dolmens Peschio
and Orfine, we visited also one of the
"kings" of the region: the Scusi
dolmen, a megalithic wonder with a gigantic capstone measuring 3.8 x
2.5m. Dolmens' capstones in Apulia, as you can see in the photos or
in the panoramic views of Grotta and
Scusi sites, are often supported not
only by upright slabs, but also by drystone walls.
In
addition to this deluge of megaliths, we visited also one "specchia"
(an ancient stone mounds with no burials inside), a strange natural
rock formation called "Masso
della Vecchia" (the old woman's stone) and a minuscule crypt
cut in the rock below the standing stone of San
Paolo. In the crypt there are Byzantine
frescoes of saints and there is a painted web, symbol of the ancient
and pagan tradition of the "Taranta" (from the name of the
spider tarantula), when women dance in a frantic way, pretending to
be possessed by an evil spirit. At the Masso della Vecchia we
met a prymary schoolclass and Paola explained to a troop of curious
children who we are and how a photographic tripod works. It was very
amusing.
At
the end of this diary page, some words on the local people. Several
different civilizations mixed here during the centuries: from the ancient
Greeks and the mysterious Messapians, to the Spanish and the French,
passing through Normans, Venetians and Saracens. The final result of
this amazing mix? People from Lecce area are hospitable, nice and open-minded.
Last Monday we met a group of Toti's friends, some working with computers
and photography, other teaching maths and hystory. Mimmo, Rosy, Marcello,
Stefano and Giuseppe welcomed us as we were old friends. We had a wonderful
time with them, sharing opinion and comparing experiences. Paola (born
in Milan) is ashamed of the stupid prejudices of many northen Italians
towards southern Italians. She finds that people are more resourceful
and culturally curious in Lecce than in Milan.
Now
a soft bed in the comfortable hotel of Minervino di Lecce is waiting
for us. See you soon in these pages!