One of the most beautiful villages of the Salento
In the southern Salento, on a hill among olive groves and dry stone walls, Specchia is one of the "Borghi più belli d'Italia" and has been praised as one of the most charming villages of the region. Its name probably comes from the "specchie", the ancient piles of stones of prehistoric origin, perhaps lookout points or tombs, common in the Salento countryside.
The historic centre, of white and golden stone, is a maze of narrow lanes, arches, courtyards, external staircases and small squares, with houses built against each other in the typical "a corte" style, around a shared courtyard. At its heart, the Piazza del Popolo is overlooked by the Castello Risolo, a fortified palace of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and by the mother church. Under the village extend the frantoi ipogei, underground oil mills dug into the rock, where for centuries olives were pressed in the dark and the warmth needed to keep the oil fluid, often by workers who lived underground for months during the harvest season. Just outside the village, the Convento dei Francescani Neri is a beautiful complex of the sixteenth century with a cloister.
Tip: visit one of the underground oil mills with a guide; the village is a good base for exploring the southern Salento and the coast of Leuca.
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