centro storico, costiero, Santa Cesarea Terme

By the mid-nineteenth century, the Salento coast south of Otranto remained a formidable prospect: a high, rocky, roadless escarpment, its only landmark a small chapel perched on the cliff. But where others saw an imperious landscape, science saw a cure. Four natural cavities issued sulphurous, salty waters at around 30 degrees Celsius; when analyses in 1828 confirmed their medicinal properties, a town was born.

The coastal centre of Santa Cesarea Terme is a Modern settlement built expressly to exploit this thermal source. Its principal street, carved along the hillside in the nineteenth century, leads to the heart of the town, where the Sacro Cuore church and its former Franciscan convent stand. The old chapel was demolished in 1911 to make way for the lungomare, as the spa matured into a fashionable resort. Today, the town’s architectural legacy, a handful of historically interesting villas, sits on the terrace above the Adriatic, a testament to a place that chose to build a future around an ancient spring.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.