Lecce is the golden capital of Salento, the sun-scorched heel of Italy's boot, and its historic center looks like it was carved out of butter. The local pietra leccese, a soft limestone that hardens over time, let 17th-century stonemasons go wild: facades froth with cherubs, gargoyles, fruit, and saints in a style so distinctive it earned its own name, Barocco Leccese. Wander at golden hour and the whole city glows.

Beneath the Baroque there is a much older Lecce. A Roman amphitheatre sits half-excavated in the main square, Piazza Sant'Oronzo, and layers of Messapian, Roman, Byzantine, and Jewish history hide under the streets, visible in spots like the Faggiano Museum. It is a real, lived-in university town too, so the passeggiata is genuine and the aperitivo scene lively.

You come for the architecture but stay for the food and the pace. This is a place of pasticciotto for breakfast, orecchiette with slow-cooked tomato sauce, rustico pastries, and cheap, excellent local wine (Negroamaro, Primitivo). Lecce is also the perfect base for exploring Salento's beaches, whitewashed towns, and sea caves.