Finished with the crazy religious lavishness, we hit the piazza, entering into the Jewish Museum, which is right next to the Basilica.  Unfortunately, here, the tours are scheduled and the next short English tour isn’t until 4:30 (there are 2 hours tours here – uh, think not and not at the price) – we figure we’ll see where we are during the day and come back.  And since we still have so much food at home, we also decide to lunch in our fabulous abode – stopping to get one of the famous Lecce treats for dessert – pasticiotto crema.  Oh. Shortbread dough filled with cream.  You cannot go wrong.  Excellent sugar high to finish off our meal.

And then we are back in the streets again, now heading toward the Chiesa de Santa Chiara, standing on the site of an old 15^th C church which was entirely rebuilt at the end of the 17^th C.  Small but mighty, this church has 6 side chapels with numerous gorgeous carvings, paintings and ornaments.

The most amazing feature is its false ceiling made from papier mache!  It looks just like wood and spans the entire area of the building.  The art of papier mache was definitely a defining craft here in Lecce, as we see it everywhere.  Including this amazing ceiling and some of the statues that surround the church here.  An interesting sidenote:  using papier mache for sacred furnishing was not to everyone’s liking.  Because it was impossible to check the morality of the newspapers from which the paper came, many people didn’t like the use of papier mache fearing the papers might be “sinful.”  Religion!

Onto the Duomo we go for more cathedral extravagance.  The original structure was built here in the early 1100s but demolished when it was deemed to unsubstantial to be fitting for Lecce. The current iteration was built in 1656, the year Lecce escaped the plague, encapsulating the flowering of baroque art with motifs, garlands full of fruit, flowers and real or mythological animals.  Once again – an amazing spectacle.

Moving from the presbytery, we make our way down a set of stairs to the crypt, with 92 column capitals, each adorned with different medieval decorations – foliage, angels, animals, fantastical creatures, plus 4 altars dedicated to various important religious figures (including Saint Irene, the former patron of the city). 

Back up in the presbytery, we circle the chapels, looking for all the different altars and items our app talks about:  The altar of Nativity, of Sant’Oronzo, the High Altar and the civic coat of arms of Lecce featuring a she-wolf and an oak tree (or ‘leccio’). Beautiful.

We take a breather outside on the exterior steps of the Duomo for a while, just enjoying the beautiful day and gorgeous scenery before heading to our next stop across the courtyard :  the Museo Diocesano di Arte Sacra. 

Housed in the old Seminary and cloister, the museum holds paintings, sacred silvers, sculptures and vestments from the 15^th to the 19^th C.  The ground floor also contains a contemporary art exhibit with some very modernistic sculptures placed in the chapel of St. Gregory.    

Two interesting things here:  First, the silver bust of Sant’Oronzo.  This bust was cast and recast multiple times because the artist included a little “fault line” above the saint’s left eye.  Finally, the diocese realized this represented a scar that Sant’Oronzo had above his eyebrow and allowed the bust to be completed including it.  No comment.  The second fascinating objects are, here again, the papier mache sculptures, which are just so incredible, detailed and, well, wood-like.  We are so bummed we didn’t get to see the museum in the castle. 

The last rooms we visit hold the archives of the diocese throughout time. It is fascinating to examine all the old books and letters written in that small precise handwriting.  Some of the oldest we saw there dated to 1506.

Then we are back in the cloister courtyard, enjoying the sun and the statuary in the yard,

before heading back into the streets trying unsuccessfully to visit the Palazzo Turrisi-Palumbo, but while it was indeed open, it wasn’t a tourist place.  It seemed like a conference center or maybe help for people in need or immigrants or something. Very weird and no obvious way to get to the interior so we left and headed off to the Convitto Palmieri.

We had read the Convitto was open to visit, but it turns out it is the public library, housed in the ancient convent.  However, on the opposite side of the huge building, there is a great exhibit on printing and lithography called, we think, Fabrica delle Parole – word factory.  On display here is essentially the history of printing – from ancient typesetting machines to current day Heidelberg presses and the first iterations of Apple Mac computers.  Totally well done exhibit that winds its way through the corridors of this side of the convent. 

Our final stop of the day is the Chieso San Matteo, called the “pantheon of the Lecce Baroque” due to its complete Baroque style.  More columns. More apostles. The high altar with incredible pillars and paintings.  The Altar of the Madonna della Luce with a medieval fresco depicting the swallows that tried to remove the thorn crown from the baby Jesus’ head and a sprig of red coral around the Child’s neck, a symbol of blood as the bearer of life and rebirth. 

Outside, the exterior is gorgeous and different.  Round in shape with the bottom portion convex, the upper portion concave.  Plus, there is the devil’s column!  The column on the right side of the door has swirls on the lower part, then becomes smooth.  It’s counterpart on the left is completely smooth.  The swirls are said to have come from the devil’s jealousy at such a great beauty of work. The Devil took the artist’s life, leaving the columns unfinished, but also leaving evidence imprinted in the marble of the painstaking work that the artist was creating.   

And with that, we are done.  ABC – Another Bloody Cathedral – tour complete.  Overall though, everything was incredible and amazing, and it was a fabulously interesting and educational day.  And, even though this city is packed to the gills with tourists, we did pretty well.  TIE. We missed the Celebrity tour at the Duomo (they were just exiting as we arrived) and managed to weave our way in and out of all the other tours around. 

Later in the evening we strike out for dinner at Corte dei Pandolfi, where we have made reservations, as usual.  A seafood restaurant created by a chef who had a “long-hel dream to create a place where every dish tells a story.”  And oh, boy does he. The seafood here is incredible. Starting with Tartare di ricciola con frutti di bosco, Amberjack tartare meets berries is the explanation of this very flavorful dish,and the fish does meet the berries – pomegranate seeds!  Excellent taste.  This is followed by Polpo Rosticciato, deemed the best octopus Ed has ever eaten – and I would have to agree. As well as Troccoli con ricciola, pasta with amberjack, which was good – at least the pasta and lemon was excellent, the fish was a little much for me, but we shared everything so all worked well in the end.

And end it was, of an excellent 2 days in Lecce, as we returned to our incredibly fabulous house to spend our last night here in 15thC comfort.