Alessano is a town of about 6,500 inhabitants located on a slightly hilly area, close to the highest relief in the province of Lecce, the Serra dei Cianci.
The town square is dedicated to Don Tonino Bello, the bishop of Molfetta who died in 1993 and for whom the beatification process is underway. The mother church of San Salvatore, dating back to the second half of the 18th century, stands out in the square with neoclassical grandeur. On the other side, the clock tower marks the days of civil life, in a happy contrast between the administrative and spiritual order.
Along the way there is a succession of ancient and noble palaces and finally you reach Piazza Castello. The Renaissance façade of this last ducal palace hides on a window a Latin engraving that more or less reads, “the house does not tolerate wickedness, loves peace, punishes crimes, maintains the laws, honors honest people”.
On the other side of Piazza Castello, a second imposing palace, covered in diamond-pointed ashlar, Palazzo Sangiovanni, contains another equally philosophical engraving, “cursed be the man who trusts in man.” Almost as if it were a response to the phrase engraved on the Ducal Palace, which seemed to honor and trust in man.
Piazza Castello is not the end of the historic center, but rather the beginning of a new district, even more magical and evocative, namely the ancient Jewish quarter of Alessano. Through a half arch nestled between a row of houses, you enter via della Giudecca, a district inhabited by the Jewish community between the 13th and 18th centuries, and used as a ghetto during the Second World War.
Not far from the historic center and in the direction of the seaside hamlet of Novaglie and the cemetery where the remains of Don Tonino rest, we find the rock settlement of Macurano, an ancient place of prayer for Byzantine monks.
While, in the direction of the other hamlet of Montesardo, there is a place that deserves a stop and even a prayer. It is the small church dedicated to the Madonna del Riposo.
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