Santa Maria di Leuca

Santa Maria di Leuca occupies the southernmost point of Apulia and the extreme tip of the heel of Italy's geographical boot, where the Ionian Sea meets the Adriatic at Punta Ristola. The cape is a place of geographic and symbolic significance — Roman road builders placed a monumental column here at the end of the Appian Way (Via Appia), and the site has been a navigational landmark for Mediterranean sailors since antiquity. The landmark structure above the cape is the Santuario Basilica di Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae (Our Lady of the Land's End), a Baroque church completed in 1720 and set dramatically on a clifftop above the rocky shore. A ceremonial aqueduct cascade runs down the cliff face from the church to the sea, activated on feast days and during major religious events. The small town below the sanctuary consists primarily of a 19th-century resort quarter of Liberty-style villas built for the Neapolitan aristocracy and arranged along a semicircular harbour. The most distinctive architectural feature is the row of 28 historic summer villas, now known as the Ville Liberty, facing the harbour — an unusually coherent ensemble of early 20th-century Italianate seaside architecture. The rocky coastline either side of the cape is pierced by sea caves — including the Grotta Grande and the Grotta del Diavolo — visible on boat tours of the cape departing from the small harbour in summer. The extreme geographical position, the finis terrae of Italy, gives the location a distinct end-of-the-world atmosphere. The drive from Gallipoli along the Ionian coast to Leuca passes through small fishing villages and limestone cliffs that are rewarding in themselves.