Santa Cesarea seems to have come out of the pages of a novel, its streets that wind between the houses and seem to make it a village of other times. The small village curled up on a cliff overlooking the sea, overlooks the Canale d'Otranto. Here summer shines with its own light but also in winter it is worth immersing yourself in its silence.
The village of Santa Cesarea
Well known for its sulphurous thermal waters, Santa Cesarea welcomes many tourists every summer and the solitude of winter does not affect its elegant beauty. Its “layered” conformation, as if it were a mountain village, makes it a unique village of its kind: you go up and down along roads and stairs, without ever losing sight of the sea.
At the end of the nineteenth century, several noble families chose Santa Cesarea as a place to build their summer residences. At the entrance to the village we are welcomed on one side, Palazzo Tamborino, on the other side, the imposing Art Deco style architecture of the Palazzo Hotel. The most beautiful villa of all is one of the symbols of Santa Cesarea: it is Villa Sticchi, built overlooking the sea, recognizable by the Moorish style and its purple-red dome.
In the historic center there is also an ancient church, the Mother Church of the Sacred Heart, built in the fourteenth century on the place where, according to popular tradition, the Virgin Cesaria died, a devoted young woman who, thanks to divine help, managed to escape the morbid attentions of the father.
Santa Cesarea in winter is a suggestive destination for its unusual landscape, flat in the hinterland and wilder towards the coast. A recommended stop, just under five minutes by car, is the splendid Bay of Porto Miggiano.
The sunset in Porto Miggiano
In the Porto Miggiano bay, about a kilometer south of Santa Cesarea Terme, the sea is like an immense and wild swimming pool. Its waters are bordered by cliffs, boulders smoothed by the waves and guarded from above by the Torre Miggiano, the ancient coastal outpost that gives the place its name. Thanks to the natural "horse stirrup" rock conformation, the sea is calm with any wind but gives its best with the north wind that makes the waters clear, almost tropical.
Porto Miggiano is one of the most crowded places during the summer but in winter it does not become a lonely place because it remains a much loved destination for long walks or, more simply, to relax on the rocks waiting for the sunset.
