A charming town in the province of Lecce, it is also referred to as the umbeliculus of Salento since it is equidistant from the Ionian Sea and the Adriatic Sea. Within its 16th-century city walls it harbors unexpected treasures of art and culture.
An authentic masterpiece of medieval art that survived the great Baroque wave is the Franciscan basilica of St. Catherine of Alexandria founded in 1385 by Prince Raimondo Orsini del Balzo of Taranto and his wife Maria d'Enghien-Brienne. Inside you can admire the 15th-century frescoes of the Giotto and Sienese schools that make the Galatinese church the Assisi of the South.
On the large Piazza San Pietro, at the entrance to the ancient village, stands the 17th-century façade of the collegiate church of SS. Peter and Paul, patron saints of the town, rebuilt in 1633 on an earlier Greek-rite church. Inside is enshrined the stone on which, according to tradition, the apostle Peter rested during his journey from Palestine to Rome.
The square also overlooks the chapel of St. Paul with the adjoining well, a destination for more than three hundred years for the tarantolati and tarantolate of the province of Terra d'Otranto who came to Galatina on the occasion of the patronal feast to ask St. Paul for mercy and drink the water from the well that was considered miraculous.
In 1959 Ernesto de Martino also arrived there on a trip to Salento to learn about and study the phenomenon of tarantism, recounted in the famous book the Land of Remorse. Among art and tradition in Galatina there is no shortage of food and wine excellence.
This city was the birthplace of the pasticciotto, a Salento dessert now known and appreciated internationally. It was made in 1743 in the famous Ascalone pastry store, still operating today in the historic family workshop a few meters from the church of SS. Peter and Paul.
THE FEAST.
Galatina celebrates the patron saints Peter and Paul on June 28, 29, 30, and each day has a different "role" within the feast to mark the difference existing between the two saints in the city, a difference admirably summarized in the famous local saying "Paulu coje e Pietro mangia"(Paul gathers and Peter eats) and in the appellation of St. Paul called lu santu de li forastieri (i.e., of those who do not live in Galatina).
June 28, the eve, still remains the most fascinating day of the patronal feast. Until the 1980s, tarantati with family members and therapeutic musicians would gather in St. Paul's chapel, alternating for three days and nights phases of sleep with moments of choreographed dance to eradicate the evil, and once they had obtained grace from St. Paul they would pay homage to the saint.
Alongside this rite, which has disappeared today but has been recovered in a folkloric key with spontaneous patrols in front of the chapel, the traditional procession takes place in a colorful natural setting. For three days the public gardens and the large St. Peter's Square, shrouded in splendid illuminations, are filled with stalls.
Near the mother church are the typical objects of this festival: mantaji (paper fans with images of Sts. Peter and Paul and other saints) and zagareddhre, colorful satin ribbons that women tie around their wrists to dance the pizzica. Three days are dedicated to music.
On the eve, there is the traditional concert of pizzica groups, and on the 29th the town bands, of which the people of Galatin are very fond, perform, with no less than two soundboxes located in different parts of town. It ends on the 30th with a light music concert.
Places to visit: the Minor Papal Basilica of St. Catherine of Alexandria, the Chiesa Matrice of SS. Peter and Paul, which preserves the stone on which St. Peter sat,
the 18th-century Corte Vinella, Palazzo Tafuri- Mongiò with its Rococo lines, Museo Civico Pietro Cavoti.
Photo by G. Armenio - G. Luceri
