Uggiano La Chiesa is situated on the Levantine side of Southern Salento and since 2004 it has been part of the Union of Towns named Terre d’Oriente, together with Otranto, Giurdignano, Poggiardo and Muro Leccese. In recent years, the community of Uggiano has supported different initiatives on a national and international level focused on cooperation among Mediterranean people.
In fact, the town is part of the renowned circuit “Città per la Pace”, promoted by the National Coordination of Local Communities for Peace and Human Rights. In the area of Uggiano, tourism is growing with increased professionalism, a fact particularly driven by the work of many family-based estates and farmhouses focused on the promotion of biodiversity and typical local products. Recently different farms have been restored and transformed into tourist accommodations, today able to combine tradition with innovation. The presence of visitors and vacationers is justified by the genuine beauty of the landscape of Uggiano La Chiesa, characterised by the magnificent countryside that surrounds the town. A very ancient human presence in the territory is suggested by the presence of the menhir “San Giovanni Malcantone”, among the tallest megalithic architectures of the province of Lecce.
The megalith is located near the farmhouse of the same name, a structure abandoned in the Middle Ages, along a paved road dating to the Roman age, probably once connected to the Via traiana-calabra. The olive trees play a leading role in shaping the beauty of this natural landscape and their majestic shapes display the vitality of the agricultural economy, which for centuries has been characterised by olive oil and grain production.
The large agricultural lands are characterised by traditional rural buildings and the countryside is marked by the presence of dry-stone walls and by the ancient pajare, crude stone shelters typical of the Salentinian landscape. The olive oil industry in Uggiano La Chiesa is very present and active. It is no accident that the town is part of the national association “Città dell’Olio”, an organisation which deals with the protection and promotion of Italian extra virgin olive oil. The culinary traditions of this agricultural and pastoral society combine with the religious heritage, visible in Uggiano every spring with the tables of Saint Joseph. On the 18th and 19th of march, on the feast day of Saint Joseph, the community prepares sumptuous tables open to the public, laden with typical local products and ancient Salentinian flavours. The history of the community of Uggiano is full of charm and a thousand-year synthesis of the European cultures which are gathered, over the centuries in the Salentinian territory.
