The Streets of Lecce, Italy

Summer vacation begins in Puglia, Italy.  It's the heel of the boot, if you're looking at a map of Italy.

Can you believe it's been almost a year since we moved to France?  It goes without saying that it has been an eventful year in Europe with many ups and downs.  With the recent tragic events in Nice and Germany, I have had second thoughts about being in Europe during this tumultuous time.  However, we have really enjoyed living abroad.  Being far from our family and friends, is probably the hardest part about being in Paris, but we've been lucky because we've had many visitors and are seeing some friends this summer in Europe.

Lecce is a historical city in Southern Italy best known for it's Baroque architecture and Roman amphitheatre.

Do you notice that there are no people in this photograph?  It's because between noon and 5:00 PM, the city shuts down for what I'm guessing is a long siesta and reprieve from the July summer heat, which rivals Texas'.

Luciano Faggiano at Museo Faggiano

In order to escape the hot weather, we ducked into this little gem, Museo Faggiano.  Luciano Faggiano bought a building to open up his trattoria, but the toilet kept backing up.  He enlisted his two sons to help him dig a trench to investigate and what they found was a subterranean world dating back to before the birth of Christ.  It's a fascinating story and a place that the kids really enjoyed too.  

On our way out, we saw the back of an older man who had taken the place of the young girl whom we bought our tickets from.  We realized, it was the man himself, Luciano Faggiano.  With a little Italian mixed with some Spanish and a lot of hand gestures, Jared and I managed to get confirmation that it was him, pay him a compliment, and find out that he was still digging.  To our delight, he opened up a back section of the museum, which was very much a work-in-progress, so we could see the new discoveries.  Peanut could not stop talking about how he got to meet the actual person in the story who made those discoveries.  It made everything so much more tangible for him.

If you go to Lecce, this is a worthy stop.  But, I would recommend a visit in October or cooler months.

Recommendations:

-- Set your GSP to park the car near Porta Rudiae, which is a good starting point into the old city.

-- Natale Pastry Shop, nice place for a snack, but check their hours.  They're only open in the morning.