Lecce

Capital of Lecce province in Apulia region, southeast Italy, 140 km/87 mi southeast of Bari; population (2001) 83,300. Lecce is a medieval fortified city and lies on the southern part of the Salentina Peninsula on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. The city is a centre for road and rail transport. Industries include canning and textiles, and products include tobacco, wine, brassware, wrought iron, furniture, pottery, and glass; there is a trade in olive oil, and tourism is important.

Lecce was conquered by the Greeks, Romans, and Normans and the city contains archaeological remains from all three conquering peoples. The city contains the ruins of a Roman amphitheatre and a Norman temple thought to date from 1180. It contains many highly-sculpted baroque buildings (for which it became known as the ‘baroque Florence’), including the Basilica of Santa Croce, designed by the Italian architect Gabriele Riccardi, a 17th-century cathedral, and a bishop's palace. The Duomo is a 12th-century building remodelled in 1670 by Guiseppe Zimbalo, who added the 72 m/236 ft- high belltower.

Lecce

Province of southeast Italy in eastern Puglia region, on the Salentian Peninsula; capital Lecce; area 2,760 sq km/1,066 sq mi; population (2000 est) 815,900. The area is characterized by Baroque style architecture and contains extensive olive groves.

The area has plentiful examples of its Greek and Roman heritage, and also many fine examples of churches built in the 11th century by both Benedictine monks (at Nardo) and by Ruggero il Normanno (at Otranto).