Shopping in Lecce

Lecce, as for all the Region Apulia, has a strong artisan tradition. The wrought iron, earthenware, copper and cane: all these materials are used to make both all day objects and art works. But this city has two particular productions: the paper mache and the Lecce’s stone (pietra leccese). The first one diffused in the area when the Church, to grow the religious feeling of population, improved the production of statues and sacred imagines made of this material: the techniques of the ancient time are still being used today. The stone, that you can also see on the façade of the churches and of the palaces of the city, it’s still worked by artisan and stonecutters: both in original forms and forms linked to the tradition. In the street of the ancient centre of the city you ‘ll see the little workshops where to buy these objects, but the perfect place to admire all the wonders of this original material is the permanent artisan exhibition (Mostra Permanente dell’Artigianato) where you can buy and bring home a piece of history of Lecce. Every last Sunday of a month, you can go to Libertini square, where there’s the antique market: hundreds stands on which see (and eventually buy…) potteries and traditional objects.