fiogf49gjkf0d THE HOTEL COMPLEX IS CLOSE TO THE MOST BEAUTIFUL
AND FAMOUS SALENTO RESORTS
THE SPA AT SANTA CESAREA
THE ALIMINI LAKES NATIONAL PARK
OTRANTO
THE HOTEL IS ABOUT 70 KM SOUTH FROM LECCE, THE
*FLORENCE OF THE SOUTH*.
SANTA MARIA DI LEUCA SHELTERED IN THE BAY LYING
BETWEEN PUNTA RISTOLA AND PUNTA MELISO, AND PART
OF THE TERRITORY OF THE TOWN OF CASTRIGNANO DEL
CAPO, THE DELIGHTFUL SMALL TOWN OF LEUCA, A
CENTER WITH REMOTE MESSAPIC ORIGINS, PERHAPS,
LATER, A ROMAN MUNICIPIUM, ITS PLACE NAME EVOKING
THE GREEK LEUK .
THAT IS, WHITE, STANDS IN ONE OF THE MOST
FASCINATING PLACES IN THE PROVINCE OF LECCE,
THERE WHERE THE LAST SLOPES OF THE SALENTO SERRE
END, PRECIPITATING DOWN TO THE SEA, AT THE
MEETING POINT OF THE IONIAN AND ADRIATIC SEAS,
THAT MINGLE IN AN EXTRAORDINARY, FAIRYTALE PLAY
OF LIGHT AND COLOR.
THIS IS THE IAPIGIUM PROMONTORIUM OF ANCIENT
TIMES, EXTREME APPENDIX OF PUGLIA AND OF ITALY,
NOWADAYS KNOWN AS CAPE SANTA MARIA DI LEUCA, A
HIGH LIMESTONE CLIFF WITH THE SLENDOR SILHOUETTED
OUTLINE OF A LIGHTHOUSE, ITS ANCIENT CHURCH
CONSECRATED, IT WOULD SEEM, INDEED BY ST. PETER.
LECCE ENCLOSED WITHIN THE REMAINS OF THE
SIXTEENTH CENTURY WALLS AND THREE ANCIENT GATES,
THE CITY OF LECCE, PROVINCIAL CAPITAL AND
HISTORIC HEART OF THE SALENTO, PRESENTS A
HAUGHTY, LAVISH, BAROQUE PHYSIOGNOMY, ALTHOUGH
ITS MOST REMOTE ORIGINS DATE FROM A MESSAPIC
SETTLEMENT, LATER TO BECOME IN THE ROMAN PERIOD,
SEAT OF THE IMPORTANT LUPIAE COLONY.
OVERSHADOWED IN THE BYZANTINE PERIOD BY THE
SUPREMACY OF OTRANTO, THE PORT TO THE ORIENT AND
CAPITAL OF THE WHOLE OF SALENTO - THE LATTER
DEFINED AT THE TIME, TOGETHER WITH CALABRIA,
TERRA D*OTRANTO, LECCE RE-EMERGED WITH THE
NORMANS.
THE CHURCH OF SAINTS NICCOL AND CATALDO IS
VALUABLE TESTIMONY TO THIS SPLENDOR, A SUPREMACY
DEFINITIVELY CONSOLIDATING IN SALENTO UNDER THE
ANGEVINS AND THE ARAGONESE.
WITH ITS WINDING STREETS AND SMALL SQUARES, NOBLE
LECCE, SEEMS TO BE A STONE FLOWERING OF
BALCONIES, WINDOWS, PORTALS, IN A CONTINUAL
SURPRISE OF VIEWS AND PERSPECTIVES, DOMINATED BY
THE WARM IVORY AND AMBER TONES OF THE LOCAL
STONE, THAT CONFER A SUBTLE AND UNRIVALLED CHARM
TO THE FLORENCE OF THE SOUTH.
SANTA CESAREA LOCATED ON THE MOST ENCHANTING
STRETCH OF COAST IN THE PROVINCE OF LECCE, AMID
THE RUGGED SCENERY OF HAZARDOUS RIDGES AND ROCKY
GORGES, LIES SANTA CESAREA TERME, STRETCHING
GENTLY ALONG A TERRACE OPENING, UNEXPECTEDLY, ON
TO A CLIFF.
PRETTY AND SUN-SOAKED, SET AMID THE CHANGING
GREENERY OF OLIVE PLANTATIONS, PINEWOODS AND
MEDITERRANEAN MAQUIS, THE LOVELY TOWN THEREFORE
ENJOYS AN ENTHRALLING POSITION, MAGNIFICENT THE
VIEW FROM ABOVE THE TOWN, FRAMED IN WOODLAND,
RANGING AS FAR AS CAPO SANTA MARIA DI LEUCA, THE
EXTREME TIP OF THE PENINSULA, ALMOST A PANORAMIC
BALCONY OVER THE LIMPID, UNCONTAMINATED SEA, HERE
REALLY BENEFICIAL.
SANTA CESAREA TERME IS, IN FACT, ONE OF THE MOST
RENOWNED SPAS IN THE WHOLE REGION, THANKS TO THE
HYDROTHERAPEUTIC SPRINGS OF ITS MARINE GROTTOES
GATTULLA, FETIDA, SOLFUREA AND SOLFATARA, WELL
KNOWN SINCE ANCIENT TIMES, AND WRAPPED IN
IMPENETRABLE MYTH, PAGAN MYTH RECALLS THE GENESIS
FROM THE DISMEMBERED BODIES OF THE GIANTS
MASSACRED HERE BY HERCULES, WHEREAS THE POPULAR
CHRISTIAN VERSION TRACES THE PURITY AND SALUBRITY
OF THESE WATERS TO THE VIRGIN CISARIA, VANISHED
INTO THE BOWELS OF THE MOUNTAIN HERE TO SUBTRACT
HERSELF FROM THE VIOLATIONS OF AN INCESTUOUS
FATHER.
HARMONIOUSLY BLENDING INTO THE HIGH ROCKY COAST,
THE BATHING ESTABLISHMENTS GUARANTEE EASY ACCESS
TO THE SEA SCENOGRAPHIC AND PICTURESQUE THE WELL
KNOWN ARCHI BATHS, CONVERTED FROM AN OLD STONE
QUARRY.
ALREADY AT THE END OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY A
HOLIDAY DESTINATION FOR THE NOBLE AND WEALTHY OF
SALENTO, THIS DISTINGUISHED *LADY OF THE WATERS*,
ALSO FAVORED IN WINTER BY ITS EXCEPTIONALLY MILD
CLIMATE, IS, MOREOVER, DOTTED WITH LUXURIOUS
VILLAS THAT CONTRIBUTE, WITH THEIR FLAMBOYANT
ARCHITECTURE AND BRIGHTNESS OF THEIR COLORS TO
THE MAGICAL, SUNNY MEDITERRANEAN ATMOSPHERE OF
THE PLACE.
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