centro storico, di pianura, Lizzano, Licyanum (denominazione in latino)

In the lowland south of Lizzano, the old borgo gathers around its medieval fulcrum: the mother church of San Nicola, the Marchesale Castle, and the clock tower. This is a settlement of simple, whitewashed houses with low roofs, typical of southern Puglia, built in smoothed carparo stone. Yet alongside these modest dwellings stand the palazzi of the nobility, some with Baroque flourishes, others topped with the distinctive conical chimneys of the Arbëreshë communities of the Taranto area, a quiet reminder of the region’s Albanian heritage.

The church itself, built in 1562 in Romanesque style by the De Raho family, was once the feudal lords of Lizzano. On its left side, supporting arches from the Norman castle survive, added after the 1743 earthquake; to the right rises the campanile. The Marchesale Palace, also commissioned by the De Raho family in the 16th century, was raised over an older Norman core, though later expansions have blurred its original lines.

Further back, when the Roman Empire fell, these lands passed to the Lombards. Later, from the 10th century, Basilian monks left their mark in the valley of the Cupi and the crypt-monastery of the Annunziata.

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