Lecce, Salento

Day 1

• Basilica of Santa Croce

  The masterpiece of Lecce baroque: a facade that is an explosion of figures, animals and friezes carved in the golden stone, the fruit of over a century of work. To be looked at slowly, in its details.

• Piazza del Duomo

  One of the few 'closed' squares in Italy, scenic as a stage: the cathedral, the very tall bell tower, the bishop's palace and the seminary. Magnificent lit up in the evening.

• Roman amphitheatre (Piazza Sant'Oronzo)

  The 2nd-century amphitheatre surfacing under the central square: you look down on it from above, between the column of Sant'Oronzo and the cafés. The Roman past emerging from the baroque city.

Day 2

• Porta Napoli

  The triumphal arch of 1548 with the Habsburg coat of arms on the tympanum, the monumental entrance to the old town: from here starts the finest walk into the baroque city, with the 19th-century obelisk opposite.

• Pasticciotto, rustico and Lecce coffee

  Lecce's indulgent trio: the custard pasticciotto, the rustico (pastry with béchamel, tomato and mozzarella) and Lecce coffee, espresso with ice and almond milk, perfect in summer.

• Salento beaches (day trips)

  Lecce is the ideal base for the Salento: in half an hour to an hour you reach the Caribbean waters of San Cataldo, Torre dell'Orso, the Maldives of Salento (Pescoluse) or the rocky Adriatic coast.

Day 1

• Papier-mâché workshops✦ hidden gem

  The historic workshops where Lecce papier-mâché is still modelled: statues of saints and nativity scenes born from paper, straw and glue. You can often see the artisan at work.

• Charles V Castle and walls✦ hidden gem

  The 16th-century fortress commissioned by Charles V, today an exhibition space, with the papier-mâché museum inside: a massive counterpoint to the baroque lacework of the centre.

• Church of San Matteo✦ hidden gem

  Lecce baroque at its most theatrical: a curved convex-concave facade from the late 17th century, unique in the city, often skipped by those who stop at Santa Croce. Inside, a surprising elliptical nave.

Day 2

• Museo Faggiano✦ hidden gem

  A private house where in 2001, while fixing a pipe, the Faggiano family found two thousand years of history under the floor: Messapian cisterns, tombs, granaries and passageways. Today you descend level by level into Lecce's underground — one of Italy's most curious museums.

• Abbey of Santa Maria di Cerrate✦ hidden gem

  A 12th-century Romanesque jewel in the countryside towards Squinzano, today managed by the FAI heritage trust: a carved portico, Byzantine frescoes and an underground oil mill. Fifteen minutes by car, off every tourist route.

Day 1

• Pasticciotto, rustico and Lecce coffee

  Lecce's indulgent trio: the custard pasticciotto, the rustico (pastry with béchamel, tomato and mozzarella) and Lecce coffee, espresso with ice and almond milk, perfect in summer.

• Ciceri e tria✦ hidden gem

  The Salento's oldest dish: pasta and chickpeas where part of the 'tria' is fried and added crisp on top of the boiled one. A recipe of medieval origin that the old-town trattorias still make the traditional way.

• Puccia and pezzetti di cavallo✦ hidden gem

  True Lecce street food: the puccia is the wood-fired durum-wheat roll to be filled, the pezzetti are chunks of horse meat in spicy sauce, a working-class heritage the Leccesi defend with pride. Try them in the putee and neighbourhood trattorias.