centro storico, di pianura, agricolo, Cavallino

Cavallino’s historic centre is a lowland agricultural town of ancient origin, its medieval layout gathered around Piazza Castromediano. Here, the main monuments face one another: the Ducal Palace, with its monumental frescoed gallery and important chapel of Santo Stefano; the mother church; and the well of San Domenico. A few hundred metres away stand the former Dominican convent, now the University of Salento, a massive, elegant structure in Lecce stone, and the adjoining church of Santi Domenico e Nicolò.

The earliest traces of human activity here date to the Middle Bronze Age (16th, 15th centuries BC). After a long abandonment, a village of huts arose in the 8th century BC (Iron Age) and lasted until the mid-6th century BC (Archaic period), when the settlement was transformed by an imposing fortification wall enclosing a planned city of masonry houses with tiled roofs. This town was suddenly abandoned at the beginning of the 5th century BC; the area reverted to farmland for centuries. Only from the late 13th century, under the De Noha family, did a new urban centre grow around the feudal palace, eventually becoming the town seen today.

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