Vernole

Located in the Valle della Cupa valley, Vernole has a soul that combines the art and culture of Lecce, the richness of its land and the traces of its most ancient history. If the Lecce Baroque marks the architecture of the centre, while in the surroundings of the village prehistoric and Messapic testimonies emerge, such as menhirs, fortified masserie, underground oil mills and millstones, moving towards the coast one encounters the nature reserve and WWF oasis 'Le Cesine', a corner where the sea seeps into the hinterland forming these suggestive lagoons. What most represents Vernole, however, is to be found in its 16th-century hamlet of Acaya, a fortified village at the centre of which stands an imposing castle with towers and bastions, on which it is now possible to take a suggestive walk.