Eating in Lecce

Good food is a characteristic of Lecce: earth and sea seems to always want to give their best in this city. The typical food is very rich and is often enriched with spices coming from the Mediterranean maquis as: sage, mint, oregano, rosemary… Vegetables and legumes are one of the principal ingredients, cooked in earthen pots and enriched with olive oil (olive oil is a typical production of the surroundings of Lecce) served on the “friselle” (general served with a bowl of water, it’s a round hard rock bread that should be immersed into water before being ate). The “rustico leccese” is a delicious salty cake made of two slices of flaky pastry filled with mozzarella, bechamel sauce, tomatoes, pepper and nutmeg; The “puccia” is a little round olive studded bread… but pay attention when you eat it: the olives aren’t stoned! If you like particular kinds of food, you must known that in Lecce one of the typical dishes is the “municeddhe”, little snails that should be picked up when they cover their crack shell with a white membrane (municeddhe in Lecce’s dialect means “little nuns”, because of the resemblance between the white membrane and the veil of the nuns). If you have a sweet tooth you sure appreciate the “pasticciotto” a little short pastry cake filled with cream (delicious when it’s hot), or you could choose among the infinite variety of almond paste. In Lecce you’ll also find a great choice of wines: the red wines of this area are very known: the Negramaro, the Salice Salentino and the Primitivo di Manduria.