CASTROMEDIANO MUSEUM, Castromediano Museum

Hi, my name’s Scott, and I’m your personal guide. Along with MyWoWo, I’d like to welcome you to one of the Wonders of the World: the Sigismondo Castromediano Archeological Museum.

The Castromediano Museum is the oldest in Apulia, and takes visitors on a journey through the art and history of Lecce. It was founded way back in 1868 by Sigismondo Castromediano from Lecce, Duke of Cavallino, a republican and liberal patriot hostile to the Kingdom of Naples.

A member of the enlightened local aristocracy, Castromediano was a cultured archeologist and scholar, with a passion for art and history that prompted him to found this fascinating museum, with exhibits spanning from prehistorical times to the 20th century.

The museum begins with a section dedicated to Prehistory in the Salento, where you can see artifacts from 80,000 years ago, when early man inhabited caves along the coast.

The museum features a virtual reconstruction of the Deer Cave of Porto Badisco, where unknown Stone Age artists left handprints and mysterious cave paintings on the walls. It’s well worth a look since the cave itself cannot be visited....