Santa Maria al Bagno description and photos - Italy: Ionian coast (Topic)

Santa Maria al Bagno description and photos - Italy: Ionian coast. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Santa Maria al Bagno.

Photo and description

Santa Maria al Bagno is a popular resort in the Italian region of Apulia, part of the Nard & ograve; commune, located on the Ionian coast. In general, Santa Maria is a fishing village nestled on the shores of the Gulf of Taranta between Gallipoli and Porto Cesareo. Its rocky and sandy beaches have long been popular with tourists. In the immediate vicinity of Santa Maria there is the Portoselvaggio nature reserve with 400 hectares of pine groves and 7 km of pristine coastline. Portoselvaggio is one of the main green oases in the whole of Puglia.

Getting to Santa Maria al Bagno is very simple: 45 drive away is the large city of Brindisi, 20 minutes away from Lecce, and an hour and a half away from Bari. The town has shops, restaurants, pubs and 24/7 bars, while large supermarkets and fashionable boutiques can be found in neighboring Nard & ograve;, Galatina, Gallipoli and Lecce.

During the Second World War, Santa Maria al Bagno hosted a camp for Jewish refugees, and recently a museum was opened here, dedicated to the thousands of inhabitants of this camp who passed through Italy on their way to Israel. According to historians, from 1943 to 1947, about 150 thousand Jews visited the camp who aspired to the Promised Land. The museum exhibits various documents and artifacts of that era, photographs, videos, etc.

Another attraction of Santa Maria al Bagno is the Torre del Fiume di Galatena, one of the many coastal towers of Salento, built in the 16th century to protect the coast from Saracen raids. There is a fresh water spring near the tower, which the pirates knew about and because of which they often attacked these places. The tower was once a truncated pyramidal structure about 16 meters high with corner bastions. Probably the central part of the tower collapsed shortly after construction. Today, only four corner bastions remain of the Torre del Fiume di Galatena, which gave the tower the nickname "Quattro Column" - Four Columns.

We also recommend reading IFAN Museum of African Arts description and photos - Senegal: Dakar

Topic: Santa Maria al Bagno description and photos - Italy: Ionian coast.