Holiday apartment in Salve: discover the historic center, cultural heritage and coast

Salve combines historic townscapes, sacred traditions, archaeological traces and the Ionian coast. A holiday apartment in Salve can therefore provide the basis for planning a trip that combines culture, exploring the town and a day on the coast.

Holiday apartment in Salve between the historic center and local history

In Salve’s historic center, winding alleyways run past palaces and towers dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. A walk reveals traditional Salento houses with courtyards, gardens and masonry staircases. This makes the town’s history tangible in its streetscape as well.

Palazzo Carida-Ramirez, a 19th-century building, stands in Piazza Concordia, Salve’s largest square. Its first floor has a panoramic terrace overlooking the Salve countryside. Rooms with decoratively painted ceilings from the early 20th century complement the palazzo’s historic character.

A special feature is the Organo Olgiati-Mauro: built in 1628, it is considered the oldest surviving and functioning organ in Apulia. To this day, rites and festivities are held in Salve in honor of the Cappella di Sant’Anna, the Cappella del SS. Crocifisso and the Cappella de li Spiriti Santi.

Archaeological traces from many eras

At the Messapian archaeological site of Chiusa, remains of cyclopean walls up to eight meters wide and four meters high have been preserved. A Bronze Age village was also excavated there.

The archaeological heritage also includes the “Tesoretto di Salve,” consisting of 68 silver coins found in the Fano area.

Salve’s history extends from the Bronze Age village at the Chiusa site, through the 1601 oil mill and the 1628 organ, to the 19th-century palazzo with its painted ceilings from the early 20th century.

Religious and economic traces add further points of interest: in the 1920s, a relic of Saint Teresa was donated to the Santuario di Santa Teresa del Bambin Gesù. Le Trappite is an underground oil mill dating from 1601. The Masseria di Santu Lasi was recently designated an especially important cultural asset because of its interesting archaeological layers.

The Ionian coast and different kinds of holiday days

Pescoluse is one of the beaches on Salve’s Ionian coast and is considered a place with golden sand and turquoise water.

Getting to Salve

To get to Salve, you can consider the public bus service of Salento in Bus, which continues south from Lecce. This brings a public transport connection into consideration alongside individual travel planning.

Further destinations for planning

Further destinations: Cannole, Cocumola, Melissano, Castrignano De' Greci, Punta Prosciutto, Marina Di Ugento, Porto Badisco, Porto Cesareo

To the higher-level travel overview: Lecce.