Visiting Lecce in a wheelchair

More than any other city in Puglia, Lecce impressed us with its profusion, richness and excellent preservation of its architectural estate. The city is overflowing with cathedrals, basilicas, churches and other religious buildings from the baroque period. That’s why Lecce is considered one of the European capital of baroque art. The building facades, all built out of limestone, combine together to give the city a harmonious appearance. At the same time, many details carved in the rocks make each of them unique. The insides of those religious buildings look even more impressive. They are decorated with many sculptures, paintings, gold decorations and statues. When I think about these churches and cathedrals the first words that come up in my mind are splendour and refinement. Sometimes, Lecce history is shown through its architecture, reminding us of the Greek settlement. Indeed they founded Lecce in the 4th century BC.

With so many beautiful things to see, I can’t review each of them so I will talk to you about my favorites places in Lecce.

This cathedral is one the most important in Apulia. It is really splendid inside. Chapels, walls and even ceilings are richly decorated with gilded decorations and magnificent stained glass windows.

Accessibility: The main entrance is not wheelchair accessible because there are steps but it is possible to enter the cathedral by using the ramp in Vicolo Sotteranei street. However this entrance is quite narrow: I barely fitted while my wheelchair in only about 60cm width. The crypt is not accessible to wheelchair users.

Accessibility: Unfortunately, this church is not wheelchair accessible. There are stairs to get inside.

Also named Church of the Holy Cross, you will find this basilica in every travel guide about Lecce because of its magnificent and exorbitant frontage. Unfortunately we couldn’t see it as during our stay, it was under renovation.

Accessibility in Lecce:

• The city is flat and the ground is made of big flat pavements (more like tiles) which are easy to roll on with a wheelchair.

Gallipoli

After crossing the bridge between the fishing harbour and the old town, that a different neighbourhood. We are now in Gallipoli historical heart, a place that was conquered by Greeks, Romans and even Normans a few centuries ago. But today, unfortunately, there are a lot of tourists shops in the streets overwhelming the old town. However it is still quite enjoyable to take a stroll around. By moving away from the main streets it becomes quieter and at the beginning of the evening we can even admire a glittering sunset above the sea while drinking a cocktail. But before that don’t forget to visit the cathedral “di Sant’Agata” to admire the many awesome oil paints covering the walls.

Otranto

However I found more interesting the chapel situated in the back of the cathedral. In there, we can see hundreds of skulls and bones behind window panes. Those are the one of the 800 Otranto martyrs: the 800 people who refused to convert to Islam during the Turkish invasion in 1480 and have been beheaded.

• The castle of Otranto

Accessibility: There is a platform lift in the castle allowing wheelchair users to get to the upper floors. The first floor is fully wheelchair accessible whereas on the second floor almost all the rooms entrance have a step (5 to 10cm high). The museum is free for people with reduced mobility and their accompanying person.

Accessibility in Otranto:

• Transports and trips

• Where to eat?
  • You will find many wheelchair accessible restaurants along the waterfront, near the beach.
  • Agriturismo da Marta (Via Orte, 73028 Otranto) is a must do! Have a diner here is a really nice experience. The food is very good, generous, simple but authentic. Every meals are cooked with home made ingredients from the farm. Including the flour used to cooked desserts and pastas! Only the wine is not home made. Plus, at the end of the meal you will meet Marta. Quite a woman! Despite being in her 90’s she continues to run the restaurant with her two daughters! And on the top of that, having a diner at Marta’s restaurant is affordable. Indeed for a full diner (aperitif, starter, first meal, second meal, dessert and wine) we paid 53 euros for 2 people. Regarding accessibility, there is an alley covered with gravels between the car park and the restaurant. So if you go there with someone else I would advice you to be dropped at the restaurant entrance. From there, there is a last small step. To book you will need to call +39 0836 801233 (Italian mainly/ a few words in English) or to go directly there the day before.

• Where to sleep?

During our travel we stayed in a double room with patio at the Agriturismo Fontanelle, located at 10 minutes driving from Otranto and near the beach. This accommodation is wheelchair accessible and is equipped with a adapted bathroom but it will not suit every wheelchair user as there are some design failure: the toilet seat is quit low (47cm high), transferring from the wheelchair to the toilet seat or shower seat is possible only if the wheelchair is less than 60cm width and there a small sill (2.5cm high) to enter the bathroom.

The delicious home made breakfast is served in the garden every morning.

The accommodation is close to a pine forest where it is nice to go for a walk. If you cross the pine forest you will arrive at the beach. But to reach the actual beach is impossible for people with reduced mobility as there is a small cliff to go down.

Locorotondo and Galatina are two small villages, quite unknown from the tourists despite being worth the journey. They are perfect places to peacefully enjoy the Italian Dolce Vita and discover some magnificent churches.

The Basilica Santa Caterina d’Allessandria is the reason why you should make a detour to Galatina. The paintings covering the walls of the basilica are really amazing and make it really unique. On some walls we can even see the superpositions of different coats of paints showing the basilica history through centuries. It seems that the facade of the basilica is also really beautiful but unfortunately we couldn’t see it because it was under renovation during our travel in Apulia.

The basilica is wheelchair accessible.

Did you like this post? Feel free to check out my Patreon page to see how you can support the creation of new ones and be a part of iwheeltravel!

Become a Patron!

And of course, you can share, like and subscribe, to be aware of the lastest posts.