In Salento, from Torre Sant’Andrea to Santa Maria di Leuca

An off-season walk that turns the idea of winter on its head: whilst much of Italia is braving the cold, Salento offers mild days, flower-filled meadows and paths that can often be walked in just a T-shirt. A walking tour along the very tip of the Italian peninsula, amongst cliffs overlooking the Adriatic, ancient villages, olive groves, dry-stone walls and the unique light of the Mediterranean. Starting from Torre Sant’Andrea, the route follows the eastern Apulian coast as far as Otranto and continues southwards through some of Salento’s most evocative landscapes. You’ll walk past coastal towers, Mediterranean scrub, dolmens and menhirs, Valley oak forests and small towns steeped in history such as Castro and Tricase, until you reach Santa Maria di Leuca, the symbolic place where the Adriatic and Ionian Seas seem to meet and where, since ancient times, pilgrims have arrived on their way to the ‘end of the earth’. More than just a trek, it is a slow and immersive travel experience, accompanied by the flavours of Salento’s traditions, local hospitality and views that stretch as far as Greece and Albania on the clearest days.