Soleto is one of the nine villages of Salento Greece, a Hellenistic linguistic island in the heart of Salento. Throughout its history there are traces of the millenary mixture between eastern and western culture, but the centuries do not weigh on its shoulders at all: the streets of Soleto are lively and with many corners full of charm. & nbsp;
What to see in the historic center of Soleto
To enter the historic center of Soleto , one of the entrances is the Porta di San Vito near the municipal villa, the great green lung of the town. The village of Soleto has maintained its medieval layout characterized by small squares and narrow, cobbled streets, overlooked by the houses of the Renaissance period. It is inevitable, from time to time, to look up and be surprised by the portals of the Baroque palaces with noble coats of arms and the decorations on the facades of the churches.
Among the latter is the small church of Santo Stefano, a small building nestled in the alleys, recognizable by the minute and sophisticated Romanesque façade. Once you cross the threshold, its interior is suggestive and you hardly expect a riot of colors in a tiny setting. The walls are entirely frescoed with life-size figures of saints and scenes of Christian faith: this church is the only survivor of the cultural past of the Byzantine tradition and the frescoes express faith in a simple figurative language that everyone can understand. A few meters from the church in the historic center of Soleto stands the Spire of Raimondello , a splendid example of late Gothic art in Salento.
The legend of the Orsinian spire
It is said that the spire was built in a single night by a brigade of "macare" (witches in the Salento dialect), demons and hellish monsters gathered by Matteo Tafuri, the Soletan humanist and philosopher considered by his fellow villagers to be a magician and an alchemist. Also according to popular legend, when the crowing of the rooster broke the spell it surprised four griffins who were petrified forever in the corners of the bell tower.
The truth is that the tower was completed a hundred years before the birth of Tafuri at the behest of Raimondello Orsini del Balzo, prince of Taranto and lord of Soleto. Perhaps the spire had the purpose of communicating visually, from the top of its more than 40 meters, both with Otranto (Adriatic side) and with Gallipoli (Ionian side) but much more likely it is a symbol of control over the territory and affirmation of power.
