Maglie is a town of 15,055 inhabitants in Salento, in the south-central part of the province of Lecce, in Apulia. Its position and features have made Maglie a road and rail hub for visitors heading to Otranto, Santa Cesarea Terme and Castro, Tricase and Santa Maria di Leuca, Casarano and Gallipoli.
It is 28 km from Lecce, 16 km from Otranto and about 40 km from Santa Maria di Leuca.
Some of the important monuments of Maglie are: the monument to Francesca Capece in the square in front of the town hall. The statue, in white Carrara marble, is dedicated to Francesca Capece, the last feudal lady of Maglie.
The statue of Aldo Moro, the town’s most famous citizen, unveiled in 1998, stands in the little square next to the house where he was born. The statesman is shown deep in thought, holding a copy of the newspaper l’Unità, as a reminder that he always believed in dialogue between his party and others.
The Church of the Madonna delle Grazie has a plain, simple façade, far from the exuberant forms typical of Lecce Baroque. Built in the first half of the 1600s, it saw artists such as Agostino Martinelli and Giulio Cesare Penna take turns on its construction.
The 15-metre Column of the Madonna delle Grazie was erected between 1684 and 1687, commissioned by the Confraternity of the Nativity, also known as the Congregation of the Madonna delle Grazie.
The Cathedral, or Collegiate Church, is the town’s main church and keeps the Greek-style name of “Chiesa Grande”. It stands on the site of two earlier buildings, from the 14th and 16th centuries. Despite the lack of sources and documents, its construction can be dated to the end of the 18th century.
The Cathedral bell tower, about 48 metres high, is the tallest in the province after that of Lecce Cathedral, and was most probably built between 1686 and 1690. It is in Lecce stone and has five storeys: the first four square, in the Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Tuscan orders, and the last octagonal, with a majolica-tiled dome topped by a cross.
The Church of Maria SS. Addolorata, built between 1722 and 1725, became a Marian sanctuary in 1988.
The Church of Santa Maria della Scala stands where there was once a small Greek-rite church. Indeed the present building still keeps some medieval features inside: a rose window, a window and a door.
The Town Hall stands in Piazza Aldo Moro, opposite the monument to Francesca Capece. It was built in the 1840s. The original design included a ground floor with a five-arched portico for the weekly market, two rooms on the left for the Justice of the Peace, a room on the right for the head of the town guard, two cells and another room on the first landing of the stairs, also used as a prison.
Villa Tamborino, designed by Tommaso Pispico, was completed in 1874 as the private garden of Palazzo Tamborino opposite. Separated from the residence by a public square, the park opens with a neoclassical entrance pavilion carved with garlands and cornucopias.
