The civic coat of arms of Aradeo has many religious elements: on a light blue background, there are a marble altar with two silver branched candlesticks, a chalice and a Host. There are three main theories about the history of the name ‘Aradeo’. The village was probably founded by the Byzantine-Greek and, in this case, the name of the village would derive from a Greek word, meaning ‘property of Aratos’, found in an old parchment of the 12th century. The second hypothesis says that the name could come from another Greek word ,‘charadreon’, meaning "territory rich in water". The famous local historian Giacomo Arditi thinks that the village was founded by the people in flight from many small villages when these were destroyed by the Saracens. The people met in the same place, decided to settle there and shared the Host of peace as a sign that they would not fight anymore. In this case, the name of the village would come from the Latin words ‘ara-arae’ and ‘deus-dei’ that means ‘the altar of God’. The village was certainly dominated by the Greeks for a long time until the 15th century. In the 12th century, Tancredi the Norman, Count of Lecce, donated the village to Ruggiero Montefusco. In the 14th century the village became part of the Principality of Taranto and, in the 15th century, Giovanni Antonio Del Balzo Orsini gave it to the Monastery of St Catherine of Galatina. At that time the Monastery was inhabited by the Franciscan Monks and, when the Olivetans took their place, they were given by Alfonso II of Aragon other pieces of land to control such as those of Bagnolo, Columito, Torre Paduli and Sflagiano. Under the government of the Olivetan Monks the village underwent a period of deep recession because they aimed to reduce the independence that the village had in the past. They increased taxation and introduced the tolls. The situation became even worse when the monks decided to hire out the territory of Aradeo to a kind of Governor. The first Governor, Father Giovanni from Naples, was invested with full powers for only 1400 ducats. During his government, he earned his money back and got rich very quickly. The second and last governor was Brother Gregorio from Aversa, an Olivetan monk as the previous governor. In 1707 the Olivetans decided that the Governor could also be a layman and so they the population the chance to choose their Governor. The village needed a long time of recovery to get back to normality. Among the famous people of Aradeo we have to remember the priest Drosos. He lived between the 13th and the 14th century. He became a poet and taught Philosophy, Liturgy and Greek. He made the Byzantine culture to be widespread in the whole Salento and wrote many books that have been recently published. Other famous people of Aradeo are Giuseppe Giuliano Vasquez and Filippo Giuliano, both were important jurists.