Salento: sea pools and cliffs between two seas

Route description

From Lecce, drive 25 km east to the coast at Roca Vecchia, where the Grotta della Poesia is a natural pool in the rock, joined to the sea by a tunnel, next to ancient ruins. Follow the coast south past the sea stacks of Torre Sant’Andrea to Otranto, a walled port with a cathedral whose floor is one huge 12th-century mosaic. The old town is closed to cars.

Just south of Otranto, a short walk from the road to Porto Badisco, an abandoned bauxite quarry holds a green lake framed by red earth. The coast road SP358 then runs high above the Adriatic along cliffs and watchtowers, one of the best drives in Puglia, with sea caves at Castro and the bridge over the deep inlet of the Ciolo, where steps lead down to the water.

At Santa Maria di Leuca, the lighthouse and sanctuary stand on the cape where the Adriatic meets the Ionian Sea; boat trips visit the sea caves. Turn north-west on the SS274 towards Gallipoli. The Ionian coast is lower and sandier, with long beaches such as those around Pescoluse, sometimes called the Maldives of Salento, and very crowded in August.

Gallipoli’s old town sits on an island linked to the mainland by a bridge, with a castle, fish market and walls lined with churches. Continue north along the coast to Porto Selvaggio, a nature park where a path through pines leads down to a rocky bay; it is about 15 minutes each way. End in Nardò, whose Baroque main square is one of the finest in Salento.