Nardò ( la, Neritum or ; cms, Nareton) is a town and '' comune'' in the southern Italian region of Apulia, in the

Province of Lecce The Province of Lecce ( it, Provincia di Lecce; Salentino: ) is a province in the Apulia region of Italy whose capital is the city of Lecce. The province is called the "Heel of Italy". Located on the Salento peninsula, it is the second most-po ...

. Lies on a lowland area placed at south-west of its Province, its border includes part of the Ionian coast of

Salento Salento (Salentino: ''Salentu'', Salentino Griko: ''Σαλέντο'') is a cultural, historical and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apulia in Southern Italy. It is a sub-peninsula of the Italian Peninsula, ...

. For centuries, it had been one of the central cities of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, until 1497, when the ducal

House of Acquaviva The House of Acquaviva is an aristocratic Italian family from Naples. The head of the family was Duke of Atri in the Abruzzo from the 15th century, and Count of Conversano after an Orsini family marriage in 1546, among other titles. History The ...

acquired it under their domain. During those years it became the main cultural hotspot of

, seat of many Universities, Academies, literary and philosophical studies: it was given the name of ''Nuoua Atene litterarum''. With almost 32.000 inhabitants and 190 squared kilometres of land, it is the second largest and most populated city among those in the Province, right after Lecce, and also one of the most culturally active towns of

. The Old Town is particularly rich with palaces, churches, chapels and other architectural details shaped accordingly to the principles of Lecce's

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...

style. Indeed, the city is a significant example of this art movement along with

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles s ...

and Lecce. The stretch of coast wet by the Ionian Sea is split into small inhabited fractions such as Santa Caterina, Santa Maria al Bagno, Sant'Isidoro and Porto Selvaggio. The latter is a Nature Reserve created by a reforestation that happened during 1950s.

Geography

Part of

, Nardò is located in the north-western area of the province, by the Ionian Sea. The municipality borders with Avetrana ( TA),

Copertino Copertino (; historical en, Cupertino, italic=yes; scn, label= Salentino, Cupirtinu ), also known in English as Cupertino, is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce in the Apulia region of south-east Italy. History Following Charles o ...

Galatina Galatina ( el, label=Griko, Ας Πέτρο, As Pètro; scn, label= Salentino, San Pietru), known before the unification of Italy as San Pietro in Galatina, is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Lecce in Apulia, southern Italy. It is situat ...

Galatone Galatone (Griko: translit. ) is a town and ''comune'' located in Salento, in the province of Lecce (Apulia, southern Italy), the former seat of the Marquess of Galatone. It is one of the most populous towns of the province where the Greek dial ...

Leverano Leverano (Salentino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce in the southeastern part of the Apulia region of south-east Italy. It is bounded by the ''comuni'' of Arnesano, Carmiano, Copertino, Nardò and Veglie. History Leverano ...

Porto Cesareo Porto Cesareo (; Salentino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Italian province of Lecce in the Apulia region of south-east Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern E ...

Salice Salentino Salice Salentino is a small town and '' comune'' in the southern part of Apulia, Italy, in the Salento area. It is bounded with the province of Taranto to the northwest and the province of Brindisi to the north. Main sights include the ''Chies ...

and

Veglie Veglie (Salentino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Italian province of Lecce in the Apulia region of south-east Italy. Veglie is west of Lecce and east of the sea, the Gulf of Taranto. It is bounded by the ''comuni'' of Campi Salentina, Car ...

History

Traces of human presence in the area dates from

Palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος '' lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone to ...

times. The settlement was founded by the

Messapi The Messapians ( grc, Μεσσάπιοι, Messápioi; la, Messapii) were a Iapygian tribe who inhabited Salento in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Daunians, inhabited central and northern Apulia respective ...

around the year 1000 BC. The

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

conquered it in 269 BC and built the Via Traiana through it. After the fall of the

Western Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period fr ...

it was under the Byzantines and the Lombards. In 1055 the Normans captured Nardò. Their heirs were ousted by the Angevines in 1266. In 1497 the Aragonese gave it to Andrea Matteo Acquaviva, whose son

Belisario ''Belisario'' (''Belisarius'') is a ''tragedia lirica'' (tragic opera) in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto after Luigi Marchionni's adaptation of play, ''Belisarius'', first staged in Munich in 182 ...

was the first Duke of Nardò, and promoted the Renaissance in the city. In 1647 the city rebelled against the Spanish domination, but the viceroyal troops suppressed the riot with heavy terms.

Nardò DOC

The area around Nardò produces red and '' rose'' Italian DOC wines. The grapes are limited to a harvest yield of 18 tonnes/ha with the finished needing a minimum alcohol level of 12.5%. The wines are primarily composed of 80-100%

Negroamaro Negroamaro (seldom Negro amaro; meaning "black ndbitter") is a red wine grape variety native to southern Italy. It is grown almost exclusively in Apulia and particularly in Salento, the peninsula which can be visualised as the "heel" of Italy. T ...

with Montepulciano and

Malvasia Nera Malvasia (, also known as Malvazia) is a group of wine grape varieties grown historically in the Mediterranean region, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and the island of Madeira, but now grown in many of the winemaking regions of the world. I ...

permitted to fill in the remaining 20%.P. Saunders ''Wine Label Language'' pg 186 Firefly Books 2004

Main sights

*The ''Piazza Salandra'' is the center of the town. *

Nardò Cathedral Nardò Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Nardò; Basilica cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the town of Nardò, province of Lecce, region of Apulia, Italy, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Formerly the seat ...

, built around 1000 AD. It has an 18th-century façade, but the interior has maintained the Romanesque-

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

original appearance. *Church of ''San Domenico'' (16th-18th centuries). It has a highly decorated façade with Baroque

caryatid A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...

s, columns and vegetable figures. *''Chiesa del Carmine'', with a fine Renaissance portal. *Church of ''San Cosimo'' (1618) *Temple of the Osanna (1603) *

Nardò Ring The Nardò Ring, originally known as Pista di prova di Nardò della Fiat (Fiat's Nardò test track) when it was built in 1975, is a high speed test track located at more than north-west of the town of Nardò, Italy, in the southern region of Ap ...

in Nardò is used as a

test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

track for driving at high speeds.

People

Daniele Greco Daniele Greco (born 1 March 1989) is an Italian athlete competing in the triple jump. Biography On 9 June 2012 at Potenza, he jumped 17.47 m, that is the 2nd best performance in Italy of all-time, after the national record of Fabrizio Donat ...

, triple jumper *

Fabrizio Miccoli Fabrizio Miccoli (; born on 27 June 1979) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He scored 103 goals in 259 matches in Serie A across nine seasons, representing Perugia, Juventus, Fiorentina and Palermo, also spe ...

, footballer *

Giuliano Sangiorgi Giuliano Sangiorgi (born 24 January 1979 in Nardò, Lecce, Italy) is an Italian artist who has gained increasing fame as a singer, songwriter and composer, together with his rock band Negramaro. Career Giuliano is not only the writer and singe ...

, singer-songwriter

Sister cities

Atlit Atlit ( he, עַתְלִית, ar, عتليت) is a coastal town located south of Haifa, Israel. The community is in the Hof HaCarmel Regional Council in the Haifa District of Israel. Off the coast of Atlit is a submerged Neolithic village. Atli ...

, Israel *

Fiorano Modenese Fiorano Modenese ( Modenese: ) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the province of Modena in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about west of Bologna and about southwest of Modena. Neighboring municipalities are Formigine, Sassuolo, S ...

, Italy *

Conversano Conversano ( Barese: ) is an ancient town and '' comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, south-eastern Italy. It is southeast of Bari and from the Adriatic coast, at above sea level. The counts of Conversano owned a stud that they ...

, Italy * Gyumri,

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

In film

Nardò is the location of the

Tomatina ''La Tomatina'' () is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, in the east of Spain from the Mediterranean, in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in a tomato fight purely for entertainment purposes. Since 1945 it ...

-inspired tomato festival in the 2014 British musical film, Walking on Sunshine.On location: ‘Walking on Sunshine’
Joanne O’Connor, 27 June 2014, Financial Times

References

External links

Official websiteViews of the Baroque land of NardòUseful information and contacts about NardòHow to get to NardòPuglia Photo GalleryNardò coast live webcam

Salento
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nardo Cities and towns in Apulia Municipalities of the Province of Lecce Localities of Salento Baroque architecture in Apulia