Specchia

Reflections of Salento

The Name

The place name derives from the mounds of stones piled up in a conical form, called specchia, which the Messapi used as defensive works or lookout posts.

In the Middle Ages, this "heap of stones" was called Specla de Amygdalis because of the almond trees (bot. Amygdalus) which abounded in the area.

Hence the legend attributing the name not to the ancient specole but to the Roman matron Lucrezia Amendolara.

History

• 9th century: the origin of the first small settlement of peasants and shepherds probably dates to this period. These first settlers came to dwell in an area that was at a high enough elevation and far enough from the sea to be protected from the frequent Saracen raids.

• 1190: Tancred is elected King of Naples and Count of Lecce. The arrival of the Normans signals the beginning of the feudal era for the Terra d'Otranto. Specchia becomes part of the County of Lecce and is bestowed on Filiberto Monteroni.

• 1269: after the battle of Benevento, Charles of Anjou grants Rodolfo D'Alnay the County of Alessano, including Specchia. The last member of the dynasty, Caterina, marries Beltrando Del Balzo in 1325.

• 1414: Queen Giovanna, jealous of the Orsini-Del Balzo family's power, sends an army to Salento led by Louis III of Anjou and Giacomo Caldora, the famous captain of fortune. In the years 1434-35, under the rule of Giacomo Del Balzo, Specchia's fortress is besieged, conquered and destroyed. In 1976, excavations in the garden adjacent to the Church of S. Nicola uncover mass graves containing large-bodied skeletons, perhaps those of the warriors killed during the siege.

• 1452: The King of Naples and Sicily, Alfonso I of Aragon, grants Raimondo Del Balzo permission to repopulate Specchia. The castle and city walls are rebuilt and the village shelters fugitives from the coastal centers, terrorized by the Turks after their conquest of Otranto (1480). From the Del Balzo family to those of Di Capua, Gonzaga, Brajda and Trane, the fief of Specchia passes through the hands of noble families up to the abolition of feudalism ordered by Napoleonic decree on the 2nd of August, 1806.

• 1860: on the 21st of October a plebiscite is held in the Kingdom of Naples, sanctioning annexation to the Kingdom of Italy. From that period on, the history of Specchia does not significantly differ from that of the Communes of Salento.

The streets, alleyways, courtyards, and life conducted outdoors

Situated in a strategic position dominating the valley below, Specchia's historic center is considered to be among the most beautiful in Salento.

The narrow streets, closed to traffic and periodically interrupted by flights of steps, enclose a residential complex which is in large part fruit of a spontaneous 16th- and 17th-century architecture which has reached our era almost intact.

To the visitor venturing about the village in silence and solitude will speak, wrote Antonio Penna - "the simple and dignified Catalan or Baroque portals, the cornices in Lecce stone, the Italian or Latin inscriptions, the corbels of the balconies overhanging the streets, the bulging wrought iron railings, the suspended arches, which still adorn the façades of the once noble houses, the friezes, the statues, the columns, the votive shrines with their sacred images worn away by time".

Specchia's historic center, which still presents a typical medieval plan, developed in the 15th century around the primitive nucleus constituted by the castle. The city walls were rebuilt during the same period. It is thought that Specchia was reconstructed in 1452, after the devastating wars between the Angiovins and the Aragons, and that the merit goes to Raimondo del Balzo. However since the main street is still called rua, a Gallicism dating back to the Angiovin domination of the 14th century, an organized nucleus must have already existed at that time.

Of the ancient walls encircling the village there remain only some fragments along the path which goes around it on the west, while in the eastern part of the walls we find one of the most ancient instances of Specchia's coat of arms depicting an almond tree growing on a mound of rocks. Instead the newer walls were constructed around 150 years ago and have recently been restored.

The centrally located Risolo castle is a fortified structure with a 16th-century plan, originally isolated but now joined to other edifices from which rise two tall square-shaped towers positioned on the corners of the ancient quadrangular construction.

The eastern front overlooking the piazza del Popolo is occupied by an 18th-century two-level courtyard, while the rusticated front gate opening onto the center is overhung by the village coat of arms and two statues. Owned by various important families, the castle was transformed into a marquis palace by the Protonobilissimi family, the marquises of Specchia during the 16th and 17th centuries.

The most evocative part of the village is that behind the castle where, among flights of stairs and short, narrow streets, among the alleyways and courtyards, the townspeople go about their daily lives, almost always in the open, leaving their dreams behind the half-closed windows.

The church and attached convent of the Black Franciscan monks are of certain date, 1531, as testified by an inscription referring to the Chapter of the Black Franciscans held in the convent. The construction of the chapel of Saint Caterina the Martyr dates to 1532, and is splendidly frescoed with scenes from the life of the saint and her martyrdom. The crypt, hollowed out of the rock and supported by 36 narrow columns laid out in four rows, still bears traces of frescoes on its walls.

The parish church was erected in 1605 but has been extensively restructured. The columns are in Lecce stone, stuccoed in the Venetian fashion, while the triumphal arches are adorned with floral motifs.

The churches of the Assunta and Sant'Antonio, with the attached Dominican convent, also date to the 16th century.

More interesting is the church of San Nicola, erected in the 9th-10th century and restored and converted to the Latin rite in 1587, as remembered in the stone tablet on the church's façade.

The church of Sant'Eufemia was of Greek rite as well: its apse is positioned facing east, in accordance with Byzantine tradition, because the sun, symbol of Christ's divinity, rises from this cardinal point. Its plan is rectangular while the apse, built in regular blocks of local stone, is polygonal. A large double lancet window opens onto the church, illuminating the interior. The church, datable to the end of the 9th-beginning of the 10th century, is a remnant of the Middle Ages, which come back to life in this corner of Salento.

Worth seeing, finally, is the underground olive press, recently restored, a testament to the historical importance of olive oil production in Specchia.

The Cape of Leuca is rich in these architectonic structures, realized between the 16th and 19th centuries and now abandoned, which represented the principal economic resource of the ancient province of the Terra d'Otranto under the Kingdom of Naples.

Local Products

Specchia's typical product is of course extra-virgin olive oil. In accordance with a project proposed by the Commune, Specchia's olive oil producers united under a single label with the brand "De.C.O Specchia" (Designation of Communal Origin), to identify the bottles of olive produced in Specchia.

The Commune also participates in the "Jonica - Ancient Land of Otranto" Olive Oil Road.

Local dishes

Among the numerous recipes of a land rich in gastronomic tradition, we must at least mention ciceri e tria, a dish based on chickpeas and home-made pasta, the soup with broad beans and artichokes, and salad with grilled eggplant.