Specchia 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

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

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

region of southeast

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 ...

. Located 53 km south of the province's capital, Specchia is nestled atop the Serra Magnone, one of the highest points in lower

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 ...

. The town was named among the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy (''Borghi più Belli d'Italia)'' by the National Tourism Association.

Main sights

*Mother Church (15th century) *Church of the Francescani Neri (early 16th century) *

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

church of Assunta *Church of San Nicola di Mira, founded in the 11th century but largely rebuilt in the 16th century, when it was converted to the

Latin rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church ''sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...

from the Byzantine one *Church of Santa Eufemia (9th-10th century) *Dominican church and convent *Palazzo Risolo (16th century), occupying the former site of the medieval castle *Palazzo Ripa (17th century)

Sport

Football

The football team of the town is the A.S.D. ARMANDO PICCHI SPECCHIA that competes in the "girone B magliese" of the

Seconda Categoria The Seconda Categoria is a level of football in Italy. It is the 8th level (since 2014-15) in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Seconda Categoria level progresses to their closest regional league in the ...

. It was founded in the 1970.

International relations

Specchia is twinned with: *

Busko-Zdrój Busko-Zdrój () is a spa town in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, southern Poland. It is the capital of Busko County. As of December 2021, it has a population of 15,310. History The origin of Busko goes back to the 12th century, when a group of sh ...

Szigetszentmiklós Szigetszentmiklós () is a city in Pest County, Hungary, with around 40,000 inhabitants. Name * Sziget – island: Szigetszentmiklós is a town on Csepel Island * Szent Miklós – Saint Nicholas, who is the patron saint of Szigetszentmiklós ...

References

External links

Awarded "EDEN - European Destinations of Excellence" non traditional tourist destination 2007
Cities and towns in Apulia Localities of Salento {{Puglia-geo-stub