Comune di Lecce
Municipal coat of arms
Country	Italy
Region	Puglia
Province	Lecce (LE)
Mayor	Paolo Perrone
Elevation	49 m
Area	238 km²
Population
- Total (as of December 31, 2004)	91,570
- Density	350/km²
Time zone	CET, UTC+1
Coordinates	40°21′N, 18°10′E
Gentilic	Leccesi
Dialing code	0832
Postal code	73100
Patron	Saint Oronzo, San Just, Saint Fortunatus
- Day	August 26
Website: www.comune.lecce.it

This is about the Italian city of Lecce. For the football club, see U.S. Lecce.

Lecce is a city situated in the south of Italy, in the region of Apulia. It is the capital of the province with the same name. Image File history File links Lecce-Stemma. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy. ... The Regions of Italy were granted a degree of regional autonomy in the 1948 constitution, which states that the constitutions role is: to recognize, protect and promote local autonomy, to ensure that services at the State level are as decentralized as possible, and to adapt the principles and laws... Apulia is a region of Italy (called Puglia in Italian), bordering on Molise to the north-west, Campania to the south-west, Basilicata to the south, the Adriatic Sea to the east and the Ionian Sea to the south-east. ... In Italy, a province (in Italian: provincia) is an administrative division of intermediate level between municipality (comune) and region (regione). ... Lecce (It. ... is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... shelby was here 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Time zones of Europe: Light colours indicate countries not observing summer time Central European Time (CET) is one of the names of the time zone that is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. ... Central European Time West Africa Time British Summer Time* Irish Summer Time* Western European Summer Time* Category: ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... A demonym or gentilic is a word that denotes the members of a people or the inhabitants of a place. ... Here are a list of area codes in Italy. ... is the 238th day of the year (239th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Unione Sportiva Lecce is a football club based in Lecce, Apulia. ... This article is about the Italian region. ... Lecce (It. ...

Lecce is called "La Firenze del Sud" (The Florence of the South) because of the quantity of important Baroque monuments found there. The area where Lecce is located is called Salento, another important nearby town being Otranto. It is an important agricultural and industrial centre (oil, wine, ceramic production). Florence (Italian: ) is the capital city of the region of Tuscany, Italy. ... Salento Salento (Salentu in dialect) is the south-eastern extremity of the Apulia region of Italy. ... Country Italy Region Puglia Province Lecce (LE) Mayor Elevation 15 m Area 76 km² Population  - Total (as of December 31, 2004) 5,487  - Density 69/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Coordinates Gentilic Idruntini or Otrantini Dialing code 0836 Postal code 73028 Patron Blesses Otrantine Martyrs  - Day August 14 Website...

An aerial view of Lecce in 2005.

The so-called "Lecce stone" is the city's main export. It is very soft and malleable, making it a renowned subject for sculpture. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1700x1460, 1659 KB) The Italian city of Lecce from the air. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1700x1460, 1659 KB) The Italian city of Lecce from the air. ...

History

According to the legend, a city called Sybar existed at the times of the War of Troy, founded by the Messapii Italic tribe. Later it was occupied by the Iapyges and conquered by the Romans in the 3rd century BCE, receiving the new name of Lupiae. Troy or Ilion, see Troy (disambiguation) and Ilion (disambiguation). ... The Messapii were an ancient tribe that inhabited, in historical times, the south-eastern peninsula or heel of Italy, known variously in ancient times as Calabria, Messapia and Iapygia. ... The Iapyges were an Indo-European people akin to the Messapii who inhabited the heel of Italy before being absorbed by the Romans. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... (4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - other centuries) (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) Events The first two Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome over dominance in western Mediterranean Rome conquers Spain Great Wall of China begun Indian traders regularly visited Arabia Scythians occupy...

Under the emperor Hadrian (2nd century AD) the city was moved 3 km to NE, taking the name of Licea or Litium. Lecce received a theater, an amphitheater and connected to the Hadrian Port (the current San Cataldo). Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus (January 24, 76 – July 10, 138), known as Hadrian in English was Roman emperor from 117 – 138, as well as a Stoic and Epicurean philosopher. ... The 2nd century is the period from 101 - 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... San Cataldo may refer to: San Cataldo, a municipality in the province of Caltanissetta in Sicily San Cataldo, a church in Palermo, Sicily San Cataldo, a nature reserve in Lecce, Italy Categories: ...

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Lecce was involved in the Gothic Wars, during which it was sacked by the Ostrogoth king Totila. After the Byzantine definitive conquest of 549, it remained part of the Eastern Empire for five centuries, with momentary rules and conquests by Saracens, Lombards, Hungarians and Slavs. Motto Senatus Populusque Romanus The Western Roman Empire in 395. ... Combatants Eastern Roman Empire Ostrogoths Franks Visigoths Commanders Belisarius Narses Mundalias Germanus Liberius Theodoric the Great Witigis Totila See also Gothic War (377–382) for the war on the Danube. ... Map of Ostrogothic Kingdom The Ostrogoths (Greuthung, Gleaming Goths or Eastern Goths), along with the Visigoths (Noble Goths or Western Goths) were branches of the Goths, an East Germanic tribe that played a major role in the political events of the late Roman Empire. ... Totila, born in Treviso, was king of the Ostrogoths, chosen after the death of his uncle Ildibad, having engineered the assassination of Ildibads short-lived successor his cousin Eraric in 541. ... Events Emperor Jinwen succeeds Emperor Wu as ruler of the Liang Dynasty in China. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Byzantine Empire. ... In older Western historical literature, the Saracens were the people of the Saracen Empire, another name for the Arab Caliphate under the rule of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. ... The Lombards (Latin Langobardi, whence comes the alternative name Longobards found in older English texts), were a Germanic people originally from Northern Europe that entered the late Roman Empire. ... The Slavic peoples are the most numerous ethnic and linguistic body of peoples in Europe. ...

After the Norman conquest in the 11th century, Lecce regained commercial importance, continuing to flourish in the subsequent Hohenstaufen and Angevine dominations. The County of Lecce was a fief of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1053-1463, when it was annexed directly to the crown. From the 15th century onwards Lecce increased its status of one of the most important cities of southern Italy, and, starting from 1630, it was enriched with precious Baroque monuments. The main danger were the Ottoman invasion, for which a new line of walls and a castle were built by King Charles V in the first part of the 16th century. Norman conquests in red. ... Arms of the Hohenstaufen Dynasty The Hohenstaufen (or the Staufer(s)) were a dynasty of Kings of Germany, many of whom were also crowned Holy Roman Emperor and Dukes of Swabia. ... Counts of Anjou, c. ... Flag The Kingdom of Sicily as it existed at the death of its founder, Roger II of Sicily, in 1154. ... Events June 18 - Battle of Civitate - 3000 horsemen of Norman Count Humphrey rout the troops of Pope Leo IX Good harvests in Europe Malcolm Canmore invades Scotland. ... Events January 5 - Poet Francois Villon is banned from Paris Births January 17 - Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (died 1525) February 24 - Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Italian philosopher (died 1494) October 20 - Alessandro Achillini, Italian philosopher (died 1512) Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici, Italian patron of the arts (died 1503... Events February 22 - Native American Quadequine introduces Popcorn to English colonists. ... Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was ruler of the Burgundian Netherlands (1506-1555), King of Spain (1516-1556), King of Naples and Sicily (1516-1554), Archduke of Austria (1519-1521), King of the Romans (or German King), (1519-1556 but did not formally abdicate until 1558) and...

In 1656 a plague broke out in the city, killing thousand of its inhabitants. // Events Mehmed Köprülü becomes Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. ... Look up plague in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In 1943, fighter aircraft based in Lecce helped support isolated Italian garrisons in the Aegean Sea fighting Germans during World War 2. Unfortunately they were delayed by the Allies, so it was too little too late. An A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-86 Sabre, P-38 Lightning and P-51 Mustang fly in formation during an air show at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. ... For people named Garrison, see Garrison (disambiguation). ... Look up Aegean Sea in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Look up ally in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Main sights

Santa Croce's Basilica in Lecce.

The amphitheater of Lecce.

Detail of the Cathedral's square.

Lecce is known for its important Baroque monuments. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 753 KB) (Uploaded using CommonsHelper or PushForCommons) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Lecce Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 753 KB) (Uploaded using CommonsHelper or PushForCommons) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Lecce Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 221 KB) Summary Photographer: vic15 Title: Anfiteatro, Lecce, Italy Taken on: 2005-06-14 Original source: Flickr. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 221 KB) Summary Photographer: vic15 Title: Anfiteatro, Lecce, Italy Taken on: 2005-06-14 Original source: Flickr. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (3456x2304, 1947 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Lecce Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (3456x2304, 1947 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Lecce Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create... Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens. ...

Churches and religious buildings

• The most important is the Church of the Holy Cross (Chiesa di Santa Croce). It was begun in 1353, but works were soon halted until 1549, to be completed only in 1695. The church has a richly decorated façade with animals, grotesque figures and vegetables, and has a large rose window. Next to the church if the Government Palace, a former convent.
• The Duomo (cathedral) is also one of the most important in Italy. It was originally built in 1144, and again in 1230. It was however totally restored in the years 1659-70 by Giuseppe Zimbalo, also designer of the 70 m-high bell tower. The latter has five floors and end with an octagonal loggia.
• The church of San Niccolò and Cataldo is an example of Italo-Norman architecture. It was founded by King Tancred in 1180. In 1716 the façade was rebuilt, with the addition of numerous statues, but maintained the fine original portal. The interior has a nave and two aisles, with ogival arcades and a dome in the centre of the nave. The frescoes on the walls are from the 15th-17th centuries.
• The Celestines' Convent (1549-1695), ewith Baroque decorations by Giuseppe Zimbalo. The courtyard was designed by Gabriele Riccardi.
• The church of the Theatines (St. Irene, built from 1591)
• Santa Maria degli Angeli
• Santa Chiara (1429-1438), rebuilt in 1687

Façade, Basilica di Santa Croce Basilica di Santa Croce (Italian, Church of the Holy Cross) is a Baroque church in Lecce, Apulia, Italy, completed in 1695. ... Events The Decameron was finished by Giovanni Boccaccio. ... Events July - Ketts Rebellion Francis Xavier arrives in Japan. ... Jan. ... Villa Godi by Palladio. ... Tancred (d. ...

Other buildings

• The Roman Amphitheatre, built in the 2nd century and situated near Sant'Oronzo Square, deserves to be mentioned as well. In its time, the amphitheatre was able to host more than 25,000 people. It is now half-buried because other important monuments were built above it over the centuries.
• The column that holds the statue of Saint Oronzo (Lecce's patron) was given to Lecce by the city of Brindisi, it was given as a gift because Saint Oronzo cured the plague in this city. The column is important as it was one of a pair that marked the end of the Appian Way, the main road connection Rome to southern Italy.
• The Sedile is a large building built in 1592 and used a set of the local council until 1852.
• The Castle of Charles V was built in 1539-49 by Gian Giacomo dell'Acaja. It has a trapezoidal plan with angular bastions. It is annexed to the Politeama Greco Opera House, inaugurated on November 15, 1884.

Brindisi is an ancient city in the Italian region of Puglia, the capital of the province of Brindisi. ... The path of the Via Appia and of the Via Appia Traiana. ... is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

Sport

Lecce is also home to Serie B football club U.S. Lecce. Serie B is the name of the second highest football league in Italy. ... Unione Sportiva Lecce is a football club based in Lecce, Apulia. ...

Notable people

• Franco Causio (born 1949), footballer world champion 1982
• Ennio de Giorgi (1928-1996), mathematician
• Cloe Elmo (1910-1962), opera singer
• Marco Materazzi (born 1973), footballer world champion 2006
• Tito Schipa (1888-1965), tenor

Franco Causio, born on February 1, 1949 in Lecce (Italy), is a former Italian footballer who played for Juventus for many years in the 1970s and 1980s. ... Ennio de Giorgi (1928 - 1996) was an Italian mathematician. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... Marco Materazzi, Cavaliere Ufficiale OMRI[2][3], (born August 19, 1973 in Lecce) is an Italian football defender, who currently plays for Serie A club Internazionale, sometimes known as Inter Milan. ... The Italian tenor Tito Schipa (1888 – 16 December 1965) is considered one of the finest tenore di grazia (lyric tenors) in operatic history. ...

Twin cities

• Murcia, Spain (since 2002)
• Skopje, Macedonia (since 2005)
• Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland (since 2006)
• Melbourne?, Australia

Image File history File links Flag_of_Spain. ... For the Roman goddess, see Venus. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Macedonia. ... The church of St. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Poland. ... Ostrów Wielkopolski (often abbreviated , formerly called only Ostrów or Ostrowo, Latin: Ostrovia) is a town in central Poland with 73,100 inhabitants (2005), situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Melbourne (pronounced ) is the second most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 3. ...

References

External links

• www.lapiazzetta.lecce.it
• (Italian) Lecce Tourism Guide
• Lecce (Italian)

Puglia · Comuni of the Province of Lecce

Acquarica del Capo | Alessano | Alezio | Alliste | Andrano | Aradeo | Arnesano | Bagnolo del Salento | Botrugno | Calimera | Campi Salentina | Cannole | Caprarica di Lecce | Carmiano | Carpignano Salentino | Casarano | Castrì di Lecce | Castrignano de' Greci | Castrignano del Capo | Castro | Cavallino | Collepasso | Copertino | Corigliano d'Otranto | Corsano | Cursi | Cutrofiano | Diso | Gagliano del Capo | Galatina | Galatone | Gallipoli | Giuggianello | Giurdignano | Guagnano | Lecce | Lequile | Leverano | Lizzanello | Maglie | Martano | Martignano | Matino | Melendugno | Melissano | Melpignano | Miggiano | Minervino di Lecce | Monteroni di Lecce | Montesano Salentino | Morciano di Leuca | Muro Leccese | Nardò | Neviano | Nociglia | Novoli | Ortelle | Otranto | Palmariggi | Parabita | Patù | Poggiardo | Porto Cesareo | Presicce | Racale | Ruffano | Salice Salentino | Salve | San Cassiano | San Cesario di Lecce | San Donato di Lecce | San Pietro in Lama | Sanarica | Sannicola | Santa Cesarea Terme | Scorrano | Seclì | Sogliano Cavour | Soleto | Specchia | Spongano | Squinzano | Sternatia | Supersano | Surano | Surbo | Taurisano | Taviano | Tiggiano | Trepuzzi | Tricase | Tuglie | Ugento | Uggiano la Chiesa | Veglie | Vernole | Zollino