The civic coat of arms of Poggiardo has a many-coloured background and it represents an ox. About the origins of this village it was probably built after the destruction of Muro and  Vaste,  that were razed to the ground by Guglielmo il Malo. According to an other hypothesis on this territory there was a place where the inhabitants of Vaste had their oxen, so after some time new houses were built nearby and the small village got bigger and bigger. Some historians advocate that this centre was built in the V century A.C. by the people who had escaped from the destruction of the near villages of Puzze, Soranello and Casicalvi, that were attacked by the terrible Goths. During the feudal age the Norman king Tancredi of Altavilla incorporated the centre into the County of Lecce. In the XIV century, the feud was bought by the family De Pontiaco. Later it was governed by the Grimaldis, the Brancaleones, the Maremontes and the Della Monicas. After the Turkish invasion of Castro (1537)  the  Episcopalian Seat  was transferred to Poggiardo until  1818. The last vassals were the Guarinis, that  governed until 1806. Among the most well-known people there is Nicola Sossi Sergio who lived  in the XVIII century, he belonged to a noble family and became an appreciated judge of the Court of Naples. Francesco from Poggiardo became an esteemed Capuchin friar and he was a charitable and humble man. Angelo Sorano  was an illustrious scholar. Didaco Guida was an appreciated preacher and theologian, that lived in the XV century. Sebastiano Sossi Sergio lived between the XVIII and the XIX centuries, and he was a brilliant lawyer.