Vacanze a Santa Maria di Leuca

The desire for sea and wild nature finds a fantastic place in Santa Maria di Leuca, down down, at the easternmost tip of Puglia, at the bottom of the heel of the Italian boot.
Here, on a promontory battered by the waves, there is a lighthouse and the Basilica of Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae. Beyond, only sea and more sea.
According to a legend, this was the antechamber of Paradise and tradition holds that Saint Peter, on his way to Rome, landed right here and began his work of evangelizing the Salento.
The famous Santa Maria di Leuca is therefore this extreme piece of land and belongs to the municipality of Castrignano del Capo.
Along the coast succeed steep cliffs, sea caves, and white sandy coves; a wild landscape that since the nineteenth century has become a destination for elite tourism, as evidenced by the elegant liberty villas lined up on the seafront of Castrignano.
The best way to enjoy all this bounty of nature is naturally the boat, sailing along the coast, exploring the caves, stopping from time to time for a dive or a picnic on a little beach. Those who want to go up the coast from Capo to Santa Cesarea have the privilege of being able to explore wonders, such as the Castro Caves or the unmissable one of the Zinzulusa, whose name was given by the first fishermen who explored it. “Zinzuli”, in dialect, means rags and to their eyes, the limestone concretions that descended from the interiors of the cave must have appeared as such.