Galatone

Galatone sits inland between Galatina and the Ionian coast, thirteen kilometers from Gallipoli and twenty-five from Lecce. Its origins are Greek-Byzantine: the place was called Kastellion, and the Griko dialect was spoken in churches into the late fourteenth century. The Santuario del Santissimo Crocifisso della Pietà, built between 1683 and 1694 to replace an earlier church that collapsed that February, is the major monument and one of the strongest Baroque buildings in the province; the decorative work passed through Giuseppe Zimbalo's hands, and the sanctuary still houses the fourteenth-century Byzantine icon of the Crocifisso that drew miracles.

Pope Pius VI elevated it to sanctuary status in 1796. Facing the church stands the fourteenth-century Squarciafico castle, seat of the marchesi who held the fief from 1556. The Renaissance scholar Antonio de Ferraris, known as il Galateo, was born here and wrote the first geographic study of Salento. The town puts on an Infioritalia flower-carpet festa each spring.