Galatina, Baroque town in Salento, Italy.
Galatina is a municipality in the Province of Lecce on the Salento peninsula in southern Italy. The settlement spreads over gently rolling land surrounded by olive groves and fields, and its old center displays narrow lanes as well as Baroque facades built from ochre stone.
The settlement began in the early Middle Ages when Byzantine monks from the East established themselves here. The Basilica of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria was built in 1390 under the rule of the Norman Orsini family and expanded the influence of the place across Salento.
The town name derives from the Greek word for milk, pointing back to its Byzantine settlement roots. Many locals still speak a regional dialect of Salentino that mixes Greek and Romance elements together.
The town lies about 20 kilometers south of Lecce and is well connected by regional trains or by car through rural roads. Visitors who want to explore the old center can usually park in the outskirts and then walk into the core on foot.
Beneath the Church of San Paolo sits an old well where people traditionally drank water to cleanse themselves from tarantula venom. Even today some visitors come here to see this ritual custom closely linked with the Tarantella music tradition.
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