The area we propose to visit is Salento. The naturalness of the life that is lead in these parts is testimony to a longstanding link with the territory and makes even the heavy presence of inhabitants pleasant because they live and breathe the rhythms of nature which beat to the times of the crops.
The integrated nature of the presence of man, which derives from the lond-standing tie with the surrounding environment, can also be seen in the use of local stone in the constructions. Whether these are low farm walls or impossing forts, their consonance with the surroundings is obvious. The magic of Salento stone, thanks to the ease with which it can be worked, has become an intrinsic part of the scenery, from holy places, like the stone cripts, to the hypogeum olive-mills, to the material used in the Baroque fantasy of the urban constructions which have made Salento famous.
The work that the inhabitants of this territory are mainly employed in is generally connected to the traditional occupations of archaic origin. This means agricultural labour, (viticulture, olive-growing) or fishing in the coastal areas, but also include a cospicuous involvement in the tourist industry, at least as far as the Ionic Coast is concerned. Porto Cesareo is, in fact, a popular tourist resort with tourists coming from all over Italy.
Moreover, it is just as undeniable that at least one animal, the Tarantula (connected with the name of Taranto the olt capital of Magna Grecia, and with it the dance of the tarantella), has in Salento, grown large in the popular imagination and deeply influenced the local country for long time.
It is therefore evidente, how this territory, despite the presence of man and his crops, is still deeply bound to those natural elements that, in other contexts oppressed and attacked, have here profoundly influenced the way of life and work of the people: the desire to spend a period of peace, sunshine and good food.
The perfumes and the flavours of the local cooking and the tables have been one of Salento's charms over the years, and are ideal to satisfy that need which becomes more and more pressing in modern life.
If however, one is more attracted to the life where nature is inhabited and "managed"by man, it is important not to forget the the are in question offers parts of the natural envitonment which are pratically integral: the sea, which hereabouts is, in a lot of qaysm unpollutes and less subject to the effects of the presence ot man than other parts of Italy and the rest of the Mediterranean. In particulare, the sea around Porto Cesareo embraces a Marine Nature Reserve and, just a simple mask with snorkel is enough to give you an idea of the life forms to be seen under the surface of the water.