What is Galatina known for?

The Cappella di San Paolo was the endpoint of the tarantata ritual, the cure-by-dance that survived into the 1960s and gave the pizzica its name. Orsini del Balzo's late-Trecento basilica, frescoed end to end by Sienese painters after 1406, the largest fresco cycle in southern Italy. Città del Vino since the Salice Salentino DOC expansion, with Negroamaro and Malvasia Nera vinified in cooperative cantine around town.

Galatina is a comune in the province of Lecce, Apulia region of Italy, about 93 kilometers from Taranto.

Apulia · Lecce

Galatina

The Salento townwhere the cult of San Paolo bred tarantism and gave the pizzica its origin myth.

93 km / 58 mi

Nearest hub (Taranto)

25,660

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Città del Vino

Why come

Galatina sits twenty kilometers south of Lecce on the gentle rise of central Salento, the third largest center in the province after the capital and Nardò. The Basilica di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria, built between 1383 and 1391 by Raimondello Orsini del Balzo, holds one of the densest fresco cycles in southern Italy, painted by Sienese followers of Giotto after Raimondello's death in 1406. Tradition has it that Raimondello brought back a finger of Saint Catherine from Mount Sinai, biting it off the relic himself. The town carries a stranger inheritance as well. The Cappella di San Paolo, beside a well whose water was said to cure tarantula bites, was the closing ritual of tarantism: tarantate were brought here every June 29 to dance out the poison to the rhythm of pizzica. The practice survived into the 1960s and gave the dance its name. The patronal festa for Santi Pietro e Paolo still fills the streets with tambourines until dawn.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Galatina fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Gallery

6 photos · scroll →

Known for

Basilica di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria
Late-fourteenth-century church built by Raimondello Orsini del Balzo, covered inside with frescoes by Sienese and Giottesque painters, second only to Assisi for fresco volume in Italy.
Cappella di San Paolo
Small chapel beside the well whose water was held to cure tarantula bites, the closing site of the annual tarantism ritual on June 29.
Centro storico
Walled old town between three medieval gates, dense with Baroque palazzi and the Chiesa Madre, the historic heart elevated to civitas by Ferdinand IV in 1793.
Festa di San Pietro e Paolo
Patronal festa on June 28-29, with pizzica rounds in Piazza San Pietro from midnight to dawn and a reenactment of the tarantate procession.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June is the green window in central Salento, before the heat lands. The big two-day festa for Santi Pietro e Paolo falls on June 28 and 29, when pizzica players fill the streets until sunrise. July and August push past thirty-five degrees and the centro storico empties between two and five. September and October cool back down for the grape and olive harvests. November through March is quiet, the basilica frescoes best seen in low winter light, many trattorie running shorter hours. The pilgrimages to the Cappella di San Paolo on June 29 are the one day a year the town fills with outside visitors.