A postcard from Lecce

They call it the Florence of the South, but I see it as the city of light.

Just like with real postcards, this one got lost and arrived a bit late. Strangely enough, this time it is not because of the Italian Mail Service, but of 850 km travelled in two days, of an almost two-year-old girl who needs to find her new routine in a new place, and of an extremely hot weather that leaves you grasping for breath. To cut a long story short, I had not really managed to plan this postcard before today.

As Giulia has already mentioned in Letters from Tuscany, we are in Salento to spend a few days at the seaside, and it seems the right moment to send a postcard from Lecce.

They call it the Florence of the South, but I see it as the city of light.

As is often happens when you visit your relatives for a few days in another region (especially in southern Italy), the opportunities to visit the city are rare, and even rarer is the chance to try new places, to have breakfast at a local café, or to dine out.

Here, I admit that in the 37 years I have been visiting Lecce, I have had breakfast in three pastry shops and eaten only twice in a restaurant.

Sooner or later we would really like to write a small foodie guide to Lecce, but in the meantime here you will find some tips we collected last year.

Tell me I am not the only one who had been visiting a city for a long time but never gets the opportunity to try new places. What is your 'unknown' city? Let me know in the comments.