Nardò
It is a very ancient town, probably the Roman Neretum, mentioned by Ptolemy and Pliny.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it remained for centuries a Byzantine center. The most glorious period of the history of Nardò was the 16th century, when the town became a duchy under the powerful Acquaviva family and thus one of the most famous cultural centers in the Land of Otranto.
Nardò is today a flourishing agricultural center producing and exporting wine, oil, tobacco, and corn, as well as the seat of industries for the transformation of these products.
Sheep breeding and fishing are among the other activities practiced in the area. Of particular interest is the ancient cathedral which, founded in 1090 on the remains of an older Basilian church, was partly rebuilt in the 13th century and restored during the last century. Together with the Baroque churches of Immacolata, S. Teresa, S. Domenico, the town hall palace (the ancient Acquaviva castle, begun in the 15th century and finished in the 16th century), as well as the several Baroque houses and palaces, it gives to the town a particular and important architectural print.
