The Basilica of the Holy Cross (Italian: Basilica di Santa Croce) is a Baroque-style church completed in 1695 in Lecce, Apulia, Italy.
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The Castle of Charles V, also known as the Castello di Lecce, is a historic fortress located in Lecce, Italy. Originally constructed during the Middle Ages, the castle was extensively reinforced in 1539 under the orders of Charles V. The redesign was carried out by the military architect Gian Giacomo dell'Acaya.
To make way for the fortress, two existing buildings were demolished: the Chapel of the Trinity and the Monastery of the Benedictine Order of the Holy Cross. While its primary purpose was defensive, the castle also served cultural and civic functions. In the 18th century, one of its halls was used as a theatre. From 1870 to 1979, it functioned as a military district.
Today, the castle hosts the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Municipality of Lecce and serves as a venue for numerous cultural events.
The interior is notable for its elegant decoration, including carved capitals, a grand hall with large stained-glass windows, and massive stone columns supporting the upper floors. According to legend, the Orsini del Balzo family, who owned the castle in the 14th century, kept a white bear in the moat. The animal served both as a symbol of status and as a deterrent to intruders.
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The province of Lecce is a province in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lecce. The province is called the "Heel of Italy". Located on the Salento peninsula, it is the second most-populous province in Apulia and the 21st most-populous province in Italy.
The province occupies an area of 2,799.07 square kilometres and has a total population of 802,807. There are 97 comuni in the province. It is surrounded by the provinces Taranto and Brindisi in the northwest, the Ionian Sea in the west, and the Adriatic Sea in the east. This location has established it as a popular tourist destination. It has been ruled by the Romans, Byzantine Greeks, Carolingians, Lombards, and Normans. The important towns are Lecce, Gallipoli, Nardò, Maglie, and Otranto. Its important agricultural products are wheat and corn. Lecce stone extracted from the province has been used to decorate several historical monuments and is widely used for interior decoration.
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The Archdiocese of Lecce is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Apulia, southern Italy. The diocese has existed since the 11th century. On 28 September 1960, in the bull Cum a nobis, Pope John XXIII separated the diocese of Lecce from the ecclesiastical province of Otranto and made it directly subject to the Holy See. In the bull Conferentia Episcopalis Apuliae issued on 20 October 1980, Pope John Paul II created the ecclesiastical province of Lecce, with the Archdiocese of Otranto becoming a suffragan diocese.
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The Lecce Courthouse is a judicial complex located on Viale Michele De Pietro in Lecce, Italy.
The building houses the judicial offices, the criminal court, and the Court of Appeal of Lecce. The civil court, on the other hand, is located in a building on Via Brenta.
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Grecìa Salentina is an area in the peninsula of Salento in southern Italy, near the town of Lecce which is inhabited by the Griko people, an ethnic Greek minority in southern Italy who speak Griko, a variant of Greek.
