Grecìa Salentina (Griko for " Salentine Greece") is an area in the

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

Salento Salento ( Salentino: ''Salentu'', Salentino Griko: ''Σαλέντο'') is a cultural, historical and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apulia in Southern Italy. It is a sub-peninsula of the Italian Peninsula ...

in southern

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 re ...

, near the town of

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

which is inhabited by the

Griko people The Griko people ( el, Γκρίκο), also known as Grecanici in Calabria, are an ethnic Greek community of Southern Italy. They are found principally in regions of Calabria and Apulia (peninsula of Salento). The Griko are believed to be remnants ...

, an ethnic

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

minority in southern Italy who speak

Griko Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is the dialect of Italiot Greek spoken by Griko people in Salento (province of Lecce) and (also called Grecanic) in Calabria. Some Greek linguists consider it to be a Modern Greek dialect and often call it ( el, � ...

, a variant of

Overview

The Union of the Towns of Grecìa Salentina (''Unione dei Comuni della Grecìa Salentina'') consists of eleven towns and forms part of the

province of Lecce The Province of Lecce ( it, Provincia di Lecce; Salentino: ) is a province in the Apulia region of Italy whose capital is the city of Lecce. The province is called the "Heel of Italy". Located on the Salento peninsula, it is the second most-p ...

in the administrative area of

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

(''Puglia''), and was founded by the Griko population in 1966. The purpose of this union was to promote the knowledge of Griko and preserve its culture, by organizing research at the university, teaching the language at schools and publishing books and poetry in the endangered dialect. The following towns are members of the Union:

Calimera Calimera (Griko: lit. 'good morning'), is a small town of 6,753 inhabitants (2021) in the Grecìa Salentina area of the Salento peninsula in Italy, located between Gallipoli and Otranto. It belongs to the province of Lecce. The inhabitants o ...

Martano Martano (Griko: , translit. ; Salentino: ) is a town and ''comune'' of 9,573 inhabitants in the province of Lecce in Apulia, Italy, from Lecce and from Otranto. It is the biggest town of Grecìa Salentina, a Greek-speaking area where some i ...

, Castrignano dei Greci, Corigliano d'Otranto,

Melpignano Melpignano (Griko: ; Salentino: ) is a small town and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce in Apulia, Italy. It is one of the nine towns of Grecìa Salentina. Melpignano has a population of 2,209 inhabitants (called Melpignanesi) and an area ...

Soleto Soleto (Griko: ; Salentino: ; la, Soletum) is a small Griko-speaking city located in the province of Lecce in Apulia, Italy. The town has a total population of 5,542 and is one of the nine towns of Grecìa Salentina where the greek dialect Griko ...

Sternatia Sternatia (Griko: , translit. ) is a small town and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce, Apulia, southern Italy. It is one of the nine towns of Grecìa Salentina where the greek dialect Griko Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is the dialect of It ...

Zollino Zollino (Griko: , translit. ; Salentino: ) is a small town and ''comune'' of 2,194 inhabitants in the province of Lecce in Apulia, Italy. It is one of the nine towns of Grecìa Salentina, which still keeps Greek language and traditions. History ...

Martignano Martignano (Griko: , translit. ) is a small town and ''comune'' of 1,770 inhabitants in the province of Lecce in Apulia, Italy. It is part of Salento and is one of the nine towns of Grecìa Salentina, an area where the greek dialect Griko is spoke ...

Carpignano Salentino Carpignano Salentino (Salentino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Italy, Italian Provinces of Italy, province of Lecce in the Apulia region of south-east Italy. It includes the ''frazione'' of Serrano (LE), Serrano. References

Citi ...

and Cutrofiano. The towns of

Citi ...

and Cutrofiano joined the Union in 2007, though the inhabitants of these two towns have not spoken their original Greek dialect called ''griko'' for two centuries.

Demographics

Source:

References

External links

Grecia Salentina union website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grecia Salentina Greek-speaking countries and territories

Overview

Demographics

See also

References

External links