(Translated by Google) Simply beautiful! The moment I entered the cave it seemed like the world stopped, wonderful, you just have to be there to describe it… sensational. (Original) Simplesmente lindo! A hora que entrei na gruta parece que o mundo parou, maravilhoso só estando lá para descrever…sensacional.

Beautiful location, great structures, best view to the open sea and town below. Easy parking. Food places. At the end of the heel of Italy. On a sunny day, what a view. Loved the visit. Would love to stay nearby next time around.

Great service and great staff. Strongly recommend an excursion with this team!

We got our tickets as a combo after visiting the Grottas of Zinzulusa, this small museum is very well made and presented, a must visit to your trip to Castro. They let you access the towers mezzanine, it was celebration day so we actually got to see the fireworks! And the welcome guide was wonderful, she took her time to explain the city and castle history along with the artifacts.

Amazing cave, you have to buy tickets in advance, get the combo for 2$ extra to see the castle, tour sets out every 30 minutes. The guide will talk a lot, if you wish to take photos of the whole cave wait for the group to pass towards the end and then go crazy, she will speak for 10 minutes at the very end of the cave so you have time. Very knowledgeable guide, she speaks English and Italian, I would say 75% will be in Italian.

This is one of the most beautiful beach I have ever been to. The water is so clear, the depth increases very gradually. I swam in April 2nd and the water was a comfortable temperature, not warm, but not unpleasant. The plastic garbage is unfortunate, but I guess better that it washes up than stays in the ocean. You will enjoy this beach a lot.

This beach club was very nice. We explored a few beach clubs throughout the region. This was easy to get a reservation. Parking was very convenient. Service was good not the most attentive, but the chairs were very comfortable. The beach was a mixture of rocks and beautiful sand. highly recommend a pair of water shoes just to traverse the rocks until you find a nice sand spot But I would recommend also since there’s a lot of public beaches nearby. There’s a lot of vendors that walk past you but they do sell everything you would need for a day at the beach, bathing suit, wraps, toys, stuff for the kids overall we had a great experience and I would recommend traveling south to see one of these beaches.

Beautiful and unique...Bauxite is a rock and important aluminium ore, the lake is exceptionally beautiful, as is the entire surrounding area, whose path also leads to the sea. Parking spaces are available nearby for a small fee. The surrounding area invites you to go hiking. Highly recommended.

Like every single cathedral, basilica and church I have visited in Italy, the Cathedral di Santa Maria in Otranto is fantastic. First consecrated in 1088. Highlights inside the Otranto Cathedral include the well preserved 12th Century (1164) mosaic floor/pavement, and the chapel of martyrs where you will find 3 large glass fronted panels showing the limbs and skull bones of 800 or so local Christians killed by invading Ottoman Turks in 1480....look very carefully at the middle panel....are those 6 bullet holes in the top of the skull of one poor individual? Or are they something else? May they all rest in peace. But please make sure you also visit the Cathedral Museum right next door. For a modest 5 euro entrance fee you can marvel at many of the cathedral's religious and artistic treasures ......including a gold thread decorated-silk 17th Century bishop's cloak, a exquisitely embroided 17th Century artisan's dress, silver altar adorations, 3D stone reliefs, and a full map/composite of the mosaic floor inside the cathedral. What a privilege. Grazie Otranto ......Stewart from New Zealand

Beautifully Sandy beach with nice water color. Excellent choice for a beach day in Puglia, because in Puglia you will find very few beaches with sand. This one is nice!

This is the most beautiful beach in the region, but the staff in the restautant is very bad, they aren't friendly at all, rather rude. The meals are also horrible and pretty expensive. Update: the staff has become much more nicer, so I am pretty satisfied now.

We enjoyed our stay at the beach. We didn’t hire a bed and parking was not a problem at this time of year. We were well looked after in the restaurant and enjoyed salads and some white wine, all reasonably priced. The sunset was amazing.

Our to-go place during our stay in town. Reasonable prices and spacy accomodations by the sea-side. We also went almost every dau for lunch and enjoyed the kid-friendly and sea-based menu.

Very convenient, walking distance, although unpaved and uncovered

We enjoyed the informative tour of the wine and olive oil production, our tour guide was knowledgeable and spoke perfect English. Then you sit under the trees in the shade for the tasting. We had eight wines to try, one white, one brut, two rose and four reds, along with a extra virgin olive oil. Along with this were tasty local delicacies. Very good value and the opportunity to buy afterwards.

The most interesting church in Lecce province, the brightest gem of local art. All walls and vaults are covered with precious frescoes of XIV-XV centuries. There are 5 great cycles of frescoes: Gospel, Genesis, Apocalypse, life of Virgin Mary, life of St Catherine

Incredible ruins of a Roman Amphitheater where gladiatorial fights took place within the centro storico of Lecce. Incredible!

One of the most beautiful basilica I’ve ever seen in my life the architecture from outside and inside was incredible really worth doing it it’s part of the five places journey you can make in this town and it’s all in one ticket and it’s really worth it

Visited in July of 2024. Absolutely stunning. I was mind blown by the beauty and the detail of the church, inside and out! The tickets aren’t that expensive. The interior is intricately decorated with paintings. Another church as beautiful as this one is rare to find.

Beautiful and full of kids and families in evening. Very lively!

Perfect place to wait for Flixbus. A lot of greenery, open gym and walk with the view to the water. Brilliant!

(Translated by Google) The Palazzo degli Uffici of Taranto is one of the most prestigious buildings in the Borgo Nuovo of the city. It was built in the eighteenth century to fulfill the function of an orphanage and house the poor children of the city and the orphans of the military, by order of a Royal Decree of Ferdinand IV of Bourbon in 1787. The first stone of the structure was laid in 1791 in an open space used for public events by the Archbishop of Taranto Monsignor Giuseppe Capecelatro, but the events of 1799 and the subsequent changes in government forced the work to be interrupted for a long time. Only in 1872 did the Municipality, which in the meantime had acquired the entire area, use the building to house some public offices, ordering the resumption of works based on the engineer's design. Giovanni Galeone, which was completed in 1894. Since 28 June 1896, the date of the inauguration in the presence of the Mayor of Taranto Alessandro Criscuolo, the building has hosted the Taranto Court, the Nautical School, the Meteorological and Seismic Observatory, the Institute for the History and Archeology of Magna Graecia and various schools, including the "Archita" Gymnasium High School. The quadrangular shape of the building influenced the master plan regarding the street network, while the architectural style was used as a model by other buildings in the Borgo Nuovo of the city. The main façade of the building overlooks Piazza Archita, and is aligned with the Swing Bridge from which it is perfectly visible. Ideally it appears divided into two horizontal sections: the lower section has a majestic main door on the ground floor flanked by a series of doors, and on the first floor a row of framed windows; the upper one is on both the second and third floors with 20 elegantly decorated windows. The division into vertical sections is instead carried out using pilasters of the Doric order in the lower part, and pilasters of the Ionic order in the upper part. The upper part of the façade ends with a small decorated triangular tympanum and a mechanical clock. The remaining elevations are identical to the main one, with the exception of the small triangular gable. There are also commemorative plaques both outside and inside. Among them, a special mention must be made for the one dedicated to the assassination of King Umberto I of Savoy, preserved on the third floor. For more than a century it was home to the "Archita" Gymnasium High School, the oldest in Taranto, famous for having been the school of illustrious personalities, including the statesman Aldo Moro. Since 2013, the high school was transferred to another location for the start of the works, which were concluded once again due to mafia infiltration within the contracting company. (Original) Il Palazzo degli Uffici di Taranto è uno dei palazzi più prestigiosi del Borgo Nuovo della città. Fu costruito nel Settecento per assolvere alla funzione di orfanotrofio ed ospitare i bambini poveri della città e gli orfani dei militari, per ordine di un Regio Decreto di Ferdinando IV di Borbone del 1787. La prima pietra della struttura fu posata nel 1791 in uno spiazzo utilizzato per manifestazioni pubbliche dall'Arcivescovo di Taranto Monsignor Giuseppe Capecelatro, ma le vicende del 1799 e i successivi mutamenti di governo, costrinsero ad interrompere i lavori per molto tempo. Solo nel 1872 il Comune, che nel frattempo aveva acquisito l'intera area, destinò l'edificio ad ospitare alcuni uffici pubblici, ordinando la ripresa dei lavori su disegno dell'Ing. Giovanni Galeone, che si concluse nel 1894. Dal 28 giugno 1896, data dell'inaugurazione alla presenza del Sindaco di Taranto Alessandro Criscuolo, il palazzo ha ospitato il Tribunale di Taranto, la Scuola nautica, l'Osservatorio meteorologico e sismico, l'Istituto per la Storia e l'Archeologia della Magna Grecia e diversi istituti scolastici, tra cui il Liceo Ginnasio "Archita". La forma quadrangolare dell'edificio, influenzarono il piano regolatore per quanto riguardava il reticolo stradale, mentre lo stile architettonico fu utilizzato come modello da altri palazzi del Borgo Nuovo della città. Il prospetto principale del palazzo si affaccia su Piazza Archita, ed è allineato con il Ponte Girevole dal quale è perfettamente visibile. Idealmente appare suddiviso in due sezioni orizzontali: la sezione inferiore presenta al piano terreno un maestoso portone principale affiancato da una serie di porte, e al primo piano una fila di finestre incorniciate; quella superiore si presenta sia al secondo che al terzo piano con 20 finestre decorate elegantemente. La suddivisione in sezioni verticali invece è effettuata mediante lesene di ordine dorico nella parte inferiore, e lesene di ordine ionico in quella superiore. La parte superiore del prospetto termina con un piccolo timpano triangolare decorato e con un orologio meccanico. I restanti prospetti sono identici a quello principale, ad eccezione del piccolo timpano triangolare. Sia all'esterno che all'interno sono inoltre presenti lapidi commemorative. Tra di esse, una menzione particolare va fatta per quella dedicata all'assassinio del Re Umberto I di Savoia, conservata al terzo piano. È stata per più di un secolo sede del Liceo Ginnasio "Archita", il più antico di Taranto, famoso per essere stata la scuola di personalità illustri, tra le quali lo statista Aldo Moro. Dal 2013 il Liceo è stato trasferito in altra sede per l'inizio dei lavori, conclusi nuovamente per infiltrazioni mafiosi all'interno della ditta appaltatrice.

N

Nice beach bar, well decorated and seem to have a great potential for beach parties