West of San Cataldo, where there is a popular bathing beach, road 611 branches south for Otranto. Near the crossroads are the scanty remains of Porto Adriano, the harbour constructed by Hadrian in AD 130. many of the large stones from this site were removed in the 19C to build the breakwater of the modern harbour.
Acaia is a small village with an interesting, though somewhat run-down castle. This is a typical Renaissance fortification furnished with imposing enceinte and large bastions with steep scarps and projecting battlements (only partially visible). Begun in 1506 by Baron Alfonso dell'Acaja and completed in 1535 by his son Gian Giacomo (known for his contributions to the castle of Lecce, the walls of Crotone and Castel Sant'Elmo in Naples), it is perhaps the purest example of Aragonese military architecture in Apulia. A road to the south returns to the coast via Vanze.
At San Foca a road leads inland to Melendugno, with another fine 15C and 16C castle. At Roca Vecchia a grass-covered mound of rubble and a few metres of low walls are all that remain  of the Rocca built in the early 14C and destroyed in 1544. The ruin stands on a rocky ledge overlooking the sea, amid the remains of a Messapian village, which in turn overlays a prehistoric settlement. Here excavations have revealed c 1200m of megalithic walls with a gate and two square towers, remains of several buildings and cave dwellings cut into the rocky walls of the bay, and numerous graves that have yielded material from the 4C and 3C BC, now at the Museo Provinciale di Lecce.