Galatone (

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, ...

: translit. ) 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 ...

'' located in

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 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 ...

( Apulia, 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 ...

), the former seat of the

Marquess of Galatone Marquess or Marchioness of Galatone (Marchese o Marchesa di Galatone) was a noble title created by the Kings of Spain for Stefano Squarciafico, Patrician of Genoa, on 29 June 1562, and inherited according to Spanish nobiliary law. The title i ...

. It is one of the most populous towns of the province where the Greek dialect

is spoken and its territory includes a stretch of coast overlooking the Ionian Sea with the localities of La Reggia and Montagna Spaccata.

History

In the Middle Ages, Galatone was a

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 ...

center: the

Greek language Greek ( el, label= Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy ( Calabria and Salento), southe ...

was spoken and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

rites were celebrated in churches up to the end of the 14th century.

scholar

Antonio de Ferraris Antonio de Ferraris ( la, Antonius de Ferraris, gr, Ἀντώνιος Φεράρις; c. 1444 – 12 November 1517), also known by his epithet Galateo ( la, Galateus, gr, Γαλάτειος), was an Italian scholar, academic, doctor and huma ...

(''"il Galateo"'') was born here during the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

, and was author of an important historical and geographical study of the Salentine peninsula.

Main sights

The main attraction of the town is the ''Santuario del Crocifisso della Pietà'', a Baroque church built between 1696 and 1710. This has a three-level façade which is richly decorated, as is the interior, surmounted by a magnificent paneled ceiling and a large frescoed

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

. Facing the church stands a 14th-century castle, the seat of the family of Squarciafico, Marquesses of Galatone, ancestors of the Princes of Belmonte. Other churches in the town include the Chiesa Maggiore (1574–95), the Church of the Dominicans (1612–1712), and the small Chapel of San Pietro, also in the Baroque style. Near Galatone lies the hermitage of San Nicola dei Pergoleti, a small 13th century Dell'Itria Church. At Fulcignano can be found the remains of a Norman castle and the old bakery, the seat of the English Baker of Apulia and the alleged centre of the world.

Twin towns

Galatone is twinned with the following towns: * Tripoli,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

Ełk Ełk (; former pl, Łek; german: Lyck; Old Prussian: ''Luks''; lt, Lukas), also spelled Elk in English, is a small city in northeastern Poland with 61,677 inhabitants as of December 2021. It was assigned to Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in 1999, ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Talsi Talsi (; liv, Tālsa, german: Talsen) (population 11,371) is a town in Latvia. It is the administrative centre of Talsi Municipality. It is nicknamed the "green pearl of Courland". Etymology It is believed that the name is derived from an old L ...

, Latvia *

Civitella Alfedena Civitella Alfedena is a small town and ''comune'' in the province of L'Aquila (Abruzzo, central Italy). It is located in the heart of the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise. Main sights * "Lupo Appenninico Museum", dedicated to the histo ...

References

External links

Galatone
Cities and towns in Apulia Localities of Salento {{Puglia-geo-stub