Via Francigena - Day 17

Off to Lecce this morning and the cool start to the day was the same as yeasturday, with cool breeze at my back. It was also a bit less humid as Tochialaro was inland from the sea at least 30 km.

(P.S. some of the posts I'm doing are not fully finished, (details etc.) but I'm posting them as some of my earlier posts were full or partially lost, when in drafts, and I had to redo some of them.)

The road out of Tochialaro was lined with pine trees.

A new olive plantation at a fork in the road.

But I was taking the road less traveled.

These little hutts were dotted throughout the olive plantations, I can only guess that they were a type of silo for storage when harvesting the olives.

The track was a bit over grown in some places.

Plenty of wind farms along the way to Lecce.

Along the way into the outer suburbs of Lecce I found an momorial in hounour of Our Lady and Child Jesus, just in the middle of the medium strip.

A new church situated on the edge of the Lecce suburbs.

I went in and said some prayers

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, with St Nicholas to the right.

Into Lecce it's self now and on the outskirts of most of the town is the cemetery or morsolium. Some of those morsolium look big enough to be a small cathedral.

No beaches in Lecce but a parkland of grass provided a refreshing welcome to the city.

I guess what you would call the official entry into Lecce the old city. The Napoli gate was part of a fortified walls that encompassed the city in the time when Naples was the most powerful kingdom in Italy and they controlled much of Puliga.

Into the 'old city' most of this would date back 5-600 years, but they believe that there has been civilian population living here that dates back to 7- 6 century BC.

The first church I saw in Lecce was St which was close to the Naples Gate.

Built in the octagonal it had an alter in every side of the church except one side for the entrance.

The main attraction in the city was the Cathedral

with a huge bell tower next to it.

On the other side of the square was the old seminary now a museum.

The bell tower with maintenance being carried out on the top section. The is a lift installed inside the tower and you can pay to go up and look out of it.

A church along the way.

Another gate out of the old city and it was time to find my accommodation for the night just out of the old city walls.