Monografia Racale

• Historical centre
• Baronial Castle
• Clock Tower
• Bell Tower
• Santa Maria de’ Paradiso Holy Mother Church
• San Sebastiano Square and public Fountain
• D'Ippolito Palace
• The Sun’s Gardens
• Megalithism: menhirs, dolmens and specchie
• Madonna dei Fiumi Church
• Torre Suda

RACALE

Racale is a town of almost 11.000 inhabitants of the Province of Lecce, distant from the capital about 54 km and located 6 km from the Ionian Sea, which overlooks the coastal resort of Torre Suda, its fraction.

Its original name was Eraclea, from Heraclius, a trusted freedman of the emperor Caesar Augustus, who would have contributed to the birth of the small village of Racale, marking the wolf breast-feeding the two twins Romulus and Remus as the emblem of the village. According to another interpretation, the ancient name derives from the hero and Greek myth Heracles, or Hercules.

Therefore, Eraclea, would testify this link with ancient Hellenic civilization and culture. A popular legend tells that when San Nicola Pilgrim arrived in the land of Racale, its citizens did not recognize him and isolated him, believing that they were dealing with a foreign stranger. When they realized, then, that their children adored him and listened to his religious teachings, they finally drove him out of the country.

From that moment on the inhabitants of Racale were nicknamed "li pacci", that is “the fools”.