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Santa Maria di Leuca lies on the
furthermost point of the Apulian heel and it is near both the Jonio and the
 Adriatic
Sea: here there is an ample repertoire of all the past evidences of the people
who settled in this area. In fact, Leuca was a place of meeting and passage for
those who used to travel from the Western Mediterranean to the Eastern one. Due
to the recovery of the rests of a settlement of the Bronze Age and to some
Messapian inscriptions found inside some caves along the beautiful coast, there
are some proofs of human villages dating back to the prehistoric age. Some
people think that homo sapiens lived in the famous Cave of the Devil. According
to legendary hypothesis Leuca was founded by Idomeneus while for some historians
by the Phoenicians. The peoples who conquered Leuca are the Goths, the
Longobards, the Greek and the Saracens. In 1500 Gonzaga, feudatory of a near
village, made build the Tower of the Dead Men to protect the territory from the
raids of the pirates wandering
unmolested along the coasts. In 1527, Phillip II made build a second tower, but
all the efforts to strengthen the defence of the territory were useless, since
the wicked looters were fast in their raids. So the people were forced to move
towards the hinterland, leaving the coast nearly desert. Only from 1873 , Leuca
was repopulated thanks to the construction of new residences, stately villas,
and to the restoration of the pre-existing houses.
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