The nearest large city to Tricase is Lecce. Lecce is the provincial capital and is a 2000 year old city with many Roman structures remaining. It is known as the "Florence of the South" because of the many buildings in the Baroque style of architecture. The population is about 100,000 people, comparable to the population of our hometown of Peoria, Illinois. We were very impressed by the energy and activity present in the streets of Lecce, especially being that we were there on a Tuesday night. The streets were packed with people. The historic buildings were lit up, the shops were open, and the piazzas were humming. We liked Lecce.
Our hosts for this outing were my cousin Lena and her husband. Lena and Emmanuele live in Lecce. She works at the Bank of Puglia and he is a sergeant in the Italian Marine Corp stationed in Brindisi. Emmanuele is a native of Lecce and was very enthused to give us a tour of his hometown.
Some of the sights we saw were the statue of Saint Oronzo, the Roman Ampitheater, the Church of Santa Croce, San Giovanni Battista Church, and the Piazza del Duomo. We also visited a famous sweet shop, saw many shops with Lecce's traditional paper mache, and bought a replica of Santa Croce carved from Lecce limestone.
Emmanuele and Lena treated us to a dinner of Lecce traditional sandwiches called panichiotta (or something close to that). It is a prociutto (ham) and cheese sandwich made with the Italian version of pita bread and filled with a variety of toppings ranging from olives to tuna fish. We capped the night off with a stop at a Creperie where everyone was treated to a Nutella crepe. Joseph, a self-proclaimed Nutella freak, was in heaven.
Our hosts for this outing were my cousin Lena and her husband. Lena and Emmanuele live in Lecce. She works at the Bank of Puglia and he is a sergeant in the Italian Marine Corp stationed in Brindisi. Emmanuele is a native of Lecce and was very enthused to give us a tour of his hometown.
Some of the sights we saw were the statue of Saint Oronzo, the Roman Ampitheater, the Church of Santa Croce, San Giovanni Battista Church, and the Piazza del Duomo. We also visited a famous sweet shop, saw many shops with Lecce's traditional paper mache, and bought a replica of Santa Croce carved from Lecce limestone.
Emmanuele and Lena treated us to a dinner of Lecce traditional sandwiches called panichiotta (or something close to that). It is a prociutto (ham) and cheese sandwich made with the Italian version of pita bread and filled with a variety of toppings ranging from olives to tuna fish. We capped the night off with a stop at a Creperie where everyone was treated to a Nutella crepe. Joseph, a self-proclaimed Nutella freak, was in heaven.
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