Santa Maria del Belvedere

The monumental complex of Santa Maria del Belvedere was a place of rest and refreshment along the "Via dei Pellegrini", an ancient route that led to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Leuca. The structure was built at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, in a period of maximum splendour of Marian pilgrimage. The Church has an imposing portico in neoclassical style, with three arches supported by pillars and Doric columns, with two tombstones in Lecce stone, which exhorted the pilgrims to pray and honour the Virgin.

The interior walls preserve an eighteenth-century pictorial decoration of fine workmanship. In the Sacristy, in addition to a small basin containing water for sacred ablutions, there are two confessionals carved into the rock. A staircase, also dug into the living rock and located a short distance from the sacred building, leads to the wide and wide hypogeum. Inside, several bunks for pilgrims were carved out of the limestone deposits. Two deep wells, which provided fresh drinking water in abundance, are found at the bottom and at the edge of a corridor more than 50 meters long. Other rooms, which rose to the surface, guaranteed the reception of the pilgrims and the animals accompanying them. Shelters and warehouses for goods, of course, favoured the trade of basic necessities.

A gravestone, witness of an ancient and no longer existing inn, bears 10 P which refers to the famous motto: Parole Poco Pensate Portano Pena, Perciò Prima Pensare Poi Parlare (meaning: think first, then speak). The grandeur of the complex deceived many pilgrims, who thought they had already reached the Sanctuary of Finibus Terrae, which was still a few miles away.

This place is also known as "Leuca Piccola" and is located in the territory of the municipality of Barbarano del Capo, and is one of the oldest sanctuaries in the world because this area was not only the closest point to the Holy Land but also represented the last stop that pilgrims made before reaching Santa Maria di Leuca. The chapel, built in 1685, was erected both for the spiritual part and to defend their lives.

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