Nardò: the baroque town in the heel of Italy

The coasts of Nardò, Santa Caterina, Porto Selvaggio, Santa Maria al Bagno can be reached covering the smooth road Lecce - Galatone -Nardò.

Santa Caterina is characterized especially by numerous villas situated in a large and blooming pinewood on a hillock that dominates the little square of this seaside resort amply frequented especially by young people who crowd the bars, the little beach and the cliff that overlook the multicolour sea.

The 16th century Torre dell’Alto (High Tower) overlooks one of the most suggestive landscapes of the whole region:
the bay of Porto Selvaggio.

Here the rocky coastline is spaced out by deep inlets, the charm of which derives from the thick vegetation, the indented coastline and the incomparable shades of blue and green of the sea that lap on them.

The cove of Porto Selvaggio can be reached through a path obtained in the pinewood and a long flight of steps and also through a detour of the coast road that links up S. Caterina and Porto Cesareo.

The area of Santa Maria al Bagno, with the ruins of the Torre del Fiume (Tower of the River) and the big palms on the seashore, has an oriental look that reminds us of a “Libyan” landscape.

This area, once a Roman harbour, in Middle Ages was defended by the superb Torre del Fiume (Tower of the River);
today only the four high and strong pillars commonly named Quattro Colonne (Four Columns) remain of the Tower

How to get to Nardò's marine - South Apulia Italy

By car:
Motorway A14 to Bari. (A "no toll" motorway) SS E55 as far as Brindisi. SS 613 to Lecce.
SS 101 (Lecce - Gallipoli) take the Galatone - S. Maria al Bagno exit.

By train: to Lecce's station

By plane: to Brindisi's airport.