Castro ( Salentino: ) is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Lecce in the Apulia region of south-eastern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

History

Castro derives its name from ''Castrum Minervae'' (Latin for "Athena's castle"), which was an ancient town of the

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

, about south of

Hydruntum Otranto (, , ; scn, label= Salentino, Oṭṛàntu; el, label=Griko, Δερεντό, Derentò; grc, Ὑδροῦς, translit=Hudroûs; la, Hydruntum) is a coastal town, port and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce ( Apulia, Italy), in a ferti ...

. Its ancient temple of

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Rom ...

was said to have been founded by

Idomeneus In Greek mythology, Idomeneus (; el, Ἰδομενεύς) was a Cretan king and commander who led the Cretan armies to the Trojan War, in eighty black ships. He was also one of the suitors of Helen, as well as a comrade of the Telamonian Ajax. ...

, who formed the tribe of the Sallentini from a mixture of

Cretans Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

, Illyrians and Italian

Locrians The Locrians ( el, Λοκροί, ''Locri'') were an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region of Locris in Central Greece, around Parnassus. They spoke the Locrian dialect, a Doric-Northwest dialect, and were closely related to their neighbour ...

(Central Greek tribe). It is also said to have been the place where

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...

first landed in Italy, the port of which he named ''Portus Veneris'' ("Port of Venus"). The temple had lost some of its importance in Strabo's day.

References

External links

Castro Marina

Castro vacation rentals

Castro vacation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castro (Le) Cities and towns in Apulia Localities of Salento Coastal towns in Apulia Roman sites of Apulia