After the 11-hour overnight ferry ride from Croatia, we arrived in the Italian city of Bari.

After disembarking in Bari, we went straight to Hertz, picked up a rental car, and drove a couple hours to Lecce, Italy.

Lecce is a historic city in the Salento region, located in the “heel of Italy.”  Lecce is also referred to as the “Florence of the South” because of its interesting Baroque architecture.

We only had 2 nights booked in Lecce so, while we walked around the city a bit, the big highlights came when we drove along the coast.

We found out firsthand why the Salento region is nicknamed “the Maldives of Italy.”

Also worth noting…  the daily temps were highs of 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius).  Hitting the beach was just what the doctor ordered for these warm days!

Here are our 3 favorite stops along the Salento coast:

1) Grotta della Poesia

After paying to park and the entry fee, we walked across the limestone cliffs to find a couple sinkholes with crowds of people taking turns jumping in. I would say they were jumping in from about 15 feet above the water.

We weren’t interested in waiting in line to jump (ok, ok… and I was a little scared).  So, after watching the more adventurous jump and taking loads of pictures along the nearby cliffs, we headed to a nearby area where we could more easily get into the water to swim.

Here are some pictures we took of the cliff-jumpers and the beautiful area where we swam:

I recorded a video of some of the people jumping into one of the sinkholes:

And here’s the beach where we swam instead.  It was beautiful and so refreshing.

2) Torre Sant’Andrea

I didn’t know anything about this place until I actually laid eyes on it.  Before we arrived, Bill said it’s going to blow my mind because I’m going to recognize it from one of the Microsoft screensavers.  I figured he was joking or over-hyping it.

Lets just say he wasn’t joking or over-hyping it!

I have no words so I’ll just show you the raw and unfiltered pictures we took before making our way down to swim:

3) Baia dei Turchi (aka Bay of Turks)

After paying to park and about a 15-minute walk along fields of grapes and then through a shaded forest, we found a beautiful sandy beach.

Let me tell you…

The water was so refreshing after that walk in the hot sun, and it was crystal clear for at least 100 meters off the beach.  If it weren’t for the sand, I would’ve swore we were in a swimming pool.  It was a unique beach with beautifully clean and soft sand that ran along the base of never-ending 20-foot cliffs.

It was no surprise to see the whole coastline covered in beach umbrellas and towels. This is definitely an Italian tourist destination to paradise and a nice way to escape the heat!

Check out these pictures:

Wrap-up

I was super surprised by the beautiful coast in Southern Italy.

Honestly, I thought the only nice Italian beaches were in places like Amalfi and Cinque Terre.  I definitely (and happily) stand corrected!

I hope this article jogged your sweet memories of past trips to Italy or has inspired you to make a trip here yourself.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts or questions in the comments…

Our next stop is Rome so looking forward to sharing our experience there with you soon! 🙂