centro storico, difensivo, radiale, San Vito dei Normanni

In the northern Salento, nine kilometres from the Adriatic coast, San Vito dei Normanni occupies a low rise at about a hundred metres above sea level. Its historic centre, a radial defensive borgo, is a consolidated town shaped by natural and artificial boundaries, with quarters that grew around functions of worship, craft, military defence and daily life.

The settlement’s origins are medieval, though Messapic and Roman finds have been made not far from the present centre. One theory places its foundation with Schiavoni settlers from across the Adriatic in the late tenth century; another credits the Normans in the eleventh or twelfth. The square tower that still anchors the feudal castle is said to have been built by Bohemond of Hauteville. The early nucleus was a refuge for farmers fleeing Saracen raids, clustering around the tower’s protection. Only in the fifteenth century did the casale become a commune, though feudal governance persisted. The town’s old names, San Vito degli Schiavi, San Vito in Terra d’Otranto, hint at its layered, contested history.

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